Pheno Therapeutics Receives Clinical Trial Approval for Novel Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics

Pheno Therapeutics Receives Clinical Trial Approval for Novel Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics

Pheno Therapeutics Limited., a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of neurological diseases, today announced that it has received a Clinical Trial Authorization (CTA) from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for its UK lead candidate, PTD802.

A selective GPR17 (G protein-coupled receptor 17) antagonist PTD802 is a novel small molecule therapeutic designed to promote remyelination. The program was developed under an exclusive global licensing agreement with UCB and is aimed at treating neurological diseases with high unmet medical need, with an initial focus on multiple sclerosis (MS).

Demyelination in MS occurs when the immune system attacks and damages the myelin sheaths that insulate and nourish axons and nerve fibers in the central nervous system, leading to multifocal demyelination, axonal injury, and neurodegeneration. MS is a chronic disease caused by demyelination and is often associated with a variety of neurological symptoms that can result in total physical and cognitive disability despite the ability of existing medications to control the inflammatory component of the disease.

Current treatments for MS focus primarily on the immune aspects of the disease, reducing the severity and frequency of relapses. There is an urgent and unmet need for effective therapeutics that limit disability progression in MS, with remyelination offering a promising neuroprotective treatment. While GPR17 antagonists have potential utility beyond MS, PTD802 is a promising oral remyelinating agent for first-in-class remyelination that we believe will be the next step in combinatorial approaches to preventing MS progression. “

Professor Siddharthan Chandran, co-founder of Pheno Therapeutics

"We are pleased to have received approval from the MHRA to advance our PTD802 program to a Phase 1 trial, a major milestone that marks our transition to a clinical stage organization. As the first company to dose a selective GPR17 antagonist in healthy humans, we are leading the race to develop GPR17-targeting remyelination therapeutics."Added Fraser Murray, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Pheno Therapeutics.“This first-in-human program brings us closer to our goal of delivering transformational medicines to treat neurological diseases associated with demyelination.. “”

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