Date: 2011-12-08
Type of information: Grant
Company: ENKAM Pharmaceuticals (Denmark) and Enkam-led consortium, NeuroFGL
Investors:
Amount: €6.0 million
Funding type: grant
Planned used: The grant will fund a major proportion of the cost of the program of studies, with consortium members providing the balance. The program of clinical studies of FGLs will begin in 2012 and be carried out by an Enkam-led consortium, NeuroFGL. It is intended to achieve proof of concept in Alzheimer\'s within three years by using surrogate markers to demonstrate FGLs\' effect on neurogenesis, the generation of new neurons.The program of clinical studies of FGLs will begin in 2012 and be carried out by an Enkam-led consortium, NeuroFGL. It is intended to achieve proof of concept in Alzheimer\'s within three years by using surrogate markers to demonstrate FGLs\' effect on neurogenesis, the generation of new neurons.
Others: ENKAM Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biotechnology company based in Denmark, has announced that the EU has awarded a €6.0 million grant to an Enkam-led consortium to fund clinical studies in Alzheimer\'s disease of Enkam\'s novel lead development candidate, FGLs, which has demonstrated positive effects in models of neurodegeneration.
FGLs, an allosteric fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor modulator, represents a new approach to the treatment of Alzheimer\'s and potentially of other conditions characterised by impaired cognition. FGLs has already demonstrated positive regenerative effects in preclinical studies and has the potential to improve cognition across a range of conditions including Alzheimer\'s, Parkinson\'s and stroke.
Enkam\'s strategy is to advance FGLs via the grant funding and in parallel to offer a licensing opportunity to a pharmaceutical partner attracted to this novel and exciting compound.
The NeuroFGL consortium comprises Enkam along with three other companies (Forenap Pharma, Qualissima and H Lundbeck A/S), Alzheimer\'s patient groups and three universities (Klinikum Der Universitat Zu Koeln under Max Planck institutes, Psychitiricke Centrum Praha and University of Copenhagen). The consortium members will provide different areas of expertise, technology and services.
The surrogate marker work will include the use of a new PET tracer, [18F]-FLT, developed by Klinikum Der Universitat Zu Koeln using its recently developed PET tracer detecting technology. [18F]-FLT is a bromodeoxyuridin analogue for detecting neurogenesis in vivo.
The marker work will also include the assessment of functional brain connectivity by using Forenap\'s expertise in EEG to measure neural oscillations. These oscillations represent a fundamental mechanism for enabling coordinated activity during normal brain functioning and therefore provide important information as a marker of bioactivity for future development of neuro-regenerative therapies.
NeuroFGL intends to develop an EEG-based bioactivity marker for use in the future development of Alzheimer\'s drugs.
Therapeutic area: Neurodegenerative diseases
