The Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) has awarded Nine Square Therapeutics a research grant totalling $4.5m to accelerate the development of novel Parkin activators for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Nine Square, a biotechnology company discovering novel small molecules to treat severe neurodegenerative diseases, said that the grant will contribute to accelerating the identification of drug candidates and could potentially deliver significant benefits to people living with PD.
Globally, PD is the fastest-growing neurological disease and currently affects more than 10 million people worldwide.
As a challenging condition to diagnose, varying symptoms and early signs of the condition such as tremors, stiffness and slowness, are primarily relied on in order to diagnose patients. However, symptoms often appear many years after the onset of PD.
Mutations in Parkin, an intracellular protein that regulates mitochondrial quality control by selectively promoting the degradation of dysfunctional mitochondria, are strongly associated with early-onset PD.
Nine Square has developed small-molecule candidates to promote Parkin activity to clear dysfunctional mitochondria and protect dopaminergic neurons.
“Our Parkin activators have demonstrated the ability to promote mitochondrial turnover and improve mitochondrial function in cellular models of Parkinson’s disease,” said Tina Schwabe, vice president and head of biology at Nine Square Therapeutics.
She added: “We look forward to using these funds to advance the nomination of our clinical candidate.”
Commenting on the grant, Jessica Garcia, associate director of research programmes at MJFF, said that the foundation is “pleased to support researchers at emerging companies like Nine Square that have a differentiated approach to drug and target discovery and are committed to ushering in a brighter future for patients around the globe”.
In April this year, a study led by the MJFF identified a breakthrough biomarker that can reveal the key pathology of PD.
Based on the study results, researchers say that they can confirm and measure the presence of the Parkinson’s protein, alpha-synuclein protein, to determine the likelihood of someone developing the disease.