-Development Candidate NDC-0524 is a First-in-Class, Humanized Therapeutic Antibody with High Affinity and Selectivity for Nitrated -Synuclein, which is Rapidly Being Advanced into the Clinic for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
BRISBANE, Calif., Oct. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nitrase Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company deploying its NITROME platform to build a pipeline of therapies targeting nitrases (and their substrates), a new class of enzymes discovered in-house that are implicated in a broad variety of diseases, today announced a poster titled “NTX101, an Antibody Against Nitrated Alpha-Synuclein, Prevents Spread of Pathology in Multiple Pre-Clinical Parkinson Models” (abstract # 6647) was presented at the Society for Neuroscience’s (SfN) Neuroscience 2024 congress taking place in Chicago from October 5-9, 2024. The antibody, which is designed to block the pathological spread of nitrated alpha synuclein (-synuclein), has demonstrated efficacy in multiple in vivo Parkinson’s disease (PD) spread models, further supporting the role of nitrated -synuclein as a pathogenic subspecies driving aggregate spread of PD in the brain.
“The accumulation of alpha synuclein within neurons is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease, and as it interferes with neuronal function, results in motor dysfunction as well as other non-motor symptoms of the disease,” said Irene Griswold-Prenner, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Nitrase Therapeutics. “Synuclein aggregates spread from neuron to neuron, causing the disease to progress and symptoms to worsen over time. Treatment with our antibody prevented the spread of alpha synuclein in distinct Parkinson’s disease spread models that correlate with human pathology. Based on our impressive body of data showing efficacy in multiple highly-translational Parkinson’s models, we are advancing our humanized antibody NDC-0524 through IND-enabling studies to initiate a clinical study in 2025.”
NTX101 is a murine chimeric antibody that binds a specific nitrated tyrosine on -synuclein with high affinity, blocking the nitrated -synuclein nidus of aggregation, without binding to non-nitrated -synuclein or other non-pathological nitrated proteins. Nitrated -synuclein is elevated by a >5-fold average increase in the cerebral spinal fluid of Parkinson’s disease patients compared to healthy controls. To determine the ability of NTX101 to prevent pathological -synuclein brain spreading, efficacy studies were conducted in several distinct mouse models. In the first two models, treatment with NTX101 statistically significantly reduced -synuclein aggregates proximal and distal from the site of introduction of human -synuclein pre-formed fibrils (PFF) compared to control antibodies. NTX101 treatment reduced pS129 aggregates in the substantia nigra and thalamus in prevention and intervention PFF models. Finally, in a third model, NTX101 treatment also strikingly abrogated paraquat induced -synuclein spreading from the dorsal medulla oblongata toward pontine and midbrain regions.
About Nitrase Therapeutics, Inc.
Nitrase Therapeutics is a pioneering biopharmaceutical company deploying its unique NITROME platform to unlock the therapeutic potential of nitrases, a new class of enzymes that it discovered, to develop a pipeline of therapies against a broad range of diseases. The medicines that Nitrase Therapeutics is developing will target these enzymes or their substrates and potentially help slow or halt the progression of numerous diseases in which nitrases and nitro-substrates play a role, including Parkinson’s, cancer, immunological and fibrotic diseases. Nitrase Therapeutics (under the former name Nitrome Biosciences) has been widely recognized and has won multiple awards including the prestigious Target Advancement grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). Nitrase Therapeutics is located in Brisbane, CA, and its investors include Sofinnova Partners, AbbVie Ventures, Dementia Discovery Fund, Bristol Myers Squibb, Mission Bay Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.nitrasetx.com.
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