Lario Therapeutics Awarded $6M Grant From The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
22 Julio 2024 - 3:57AM
Business Wire
- Award supports preclinical research of Lario’s CaV2.3 calcium
channel inhibitors as a novel disease-modifying approach for
treatment of Parkinson's disease
- Programme in collaboration with the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease
Centre
Lario Therapeutics (‘Lario’, or ‘the Company’), a
biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class precision
medicines for epileptic and neurological disorders, today announced
it has been awarded a $6 million USD grant from The Michael J. Fox
Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). The programme is in
collaboration with the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre, which
will also be delivering key science as part of the grant.
The grant will be used to fund Lario’s preclinical programme
investigating selective CaV2.3 calcium channel inhibition as a
novel and disease-modifying approach for treatment of Parkinson’s
disease. There is extensive literature linking calcium channels to
pathology of the disease, and it has been demonstrated in
preclinical experimental studies that the deletion of CaV2.3 can
have a protective effect against Parkinson’s disease progression.
Lario is partnering with Professor Richard Wade-Martins and the
Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC) for the study, for the
evaluation of Lario compounds in state-of-the-art patient-derived
stem cell models of Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder
occurring when brain cells that make dopamine, which coordinates
movement, stop working or die. Symptoms are lifelong and worsen
over time, including motor disfunction, such as tremor, slowness,
stiffness, walking and balance problems, as well as problems such
as depression and memory problems. More than 10 million people
worldwide are estimated to be living with Parkinson’s, with no
current cure.
Tom Otis, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience UCL and Chief
Scientific Officer of Lario Therapeutics, said: “We are
grateful to MJFF for their funding support for Lario’s efforts to
test and develop a potential new therapy designed to prevent the
loss of neurons that causes Parkinson’s disease. If our research is
successful, this will represent an important new treatment option
for patients.”
“This significant funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation
will aid the work out of our therapeutic pipeline and the work we
have achieved so far in advancing research in the field. We would
like to thank the MJFF team for their support,” added
Henning Steinhagen, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Lario
Therapeutics. “This grant will help drive our ambition to
progress our Cav2.3 program swiftly towards the clinic, to provide
a new, effective treatment option for people with Parkinson’s
disease.”
“MJFF is dedicated to funding innovative research, such as the
work done at Lario Therapeutics, to develop a pipeline of novel
therapies that can improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s
disease,” said Gaia Skibinski, Ph.D., director of research
programs at MJFF. “We look forward to seeing the results of
Lario’s research on CaV2.3 as a novel disease-modifying approach
for Parkinson’s.”
Richard Wade-Martins, MA, DPhil, Professor of Molecular
Neuroscience, University of Oxford, and head of the Oxford
Parkinson’s Disease Centre, said: “I am excited to partner with
the team at Lario Therapeutics – having grant funding from MJFF is
a testament to the impact this study aims to bring to patients. Our
research centre works to understand the development of Parkinson’s,
with the ultimate aim of targeting the molecular mechanisms of
disease, to prevent disease onset or to delay progression. We see
great potential in the CaV2.3 programme and are very happy to
collaborate to study patient stem cell-derived neuronal models as
part of the research.”
For more information about Lario Therapeutics' pipeline please
visit https://www.lariotx.com/pipeline.
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Zyme Communications Katie Odgaard Tel: +44(0)7787 502 947
Email: katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com