Date: 2017-06-01
Type of information: Grant
Company: Neurovive Pharmaceutical (Sweden)
Investors: Vinnova, Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Sweden)
Amount: 1 million SEK (€ 0.1 million)
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- This research grant will support the preclinical project NVP015. This project is aimed at developing a new pharmacological treatment for patients with Complex I dysfunction mitochondrial disease. The Vinnova grant will enable NeuroVive to intensify the NVP015 project development with the aim to select a lead candidate before year end 2017.
One of the most common causes of mitochondrial diseases relates to Complex I dysfunction, i.e. when energy conversion in the first of the five protein complexes in the mitochondrion that are essential for effective energy conversion does not function normally. This is apparent in disorders including Leigh’s Syndrome and MELAS, both of which are very serious diseases with symptoms such as muscle weakness, epileptic fits and other severe neurological manifestations.
- The NVP015 project is based on a concept instigated by NeuroVive’s CSO Dr. Eskil Elmér and his colleagues by which the body’s own energy substrate, succinate, is made available in the cell via a prodrug technology. A prodrug is an inactive drug that is activated first when it enters the body by the transformation of its chemical structure. Results from the NVP015 project were published in Nature Communications in August 2016.
- The development of the NVP015 project is performed in close collaboration with academic partners at the forefront of mitochondrial medicine research, such as Dr Marni Falk’s research group at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, US and Lund University, Sweden.
Others:
- • On June 1, 2017, NeuroVive Pharmaceutical announced that the company receives close to 1 million SEK in a research grant from Swedish innovation agency, Vinnova, for developing a new treatment for genetic mitochondrial diseases. Projects selected for financing within this call, or any earlier Swelife call, will be offered to apply for further grants in a follow-up call. In that call, a grant amounting to half of the eligible project costs may be received (at most 5 million SEK during a period of maximum two years).
Therapeutic area: Rare diseases - Genetic diseases
Is general: Yes
