While standard treatments for Parkinson’s only alleviate symptoms, the Irish pharma Prothena had partnered up with Roche to develop an antibody to hinder the progress of the disease.
The drug—called PRX002—targets alpha-synuclein, a protein that is garnering increasing attention among Parkinson’s disease researchers. Mutations in this protein are found to correspond to Parkinson-like diseases in animal models, and the protein is found in higher-than-usual concentrations in Lewy bodies—a type of lesion found in the brains of Parkinson’s disease patients.
Prothena’s phase Ib multiple ascending dose study represents the first report of an antibody targeting alpha-synuclein in patients with Parkinson’s disease and showed that the drug candidate was able to reduce serum levels of the protein by up to 97% with a single dose.
Armed with the data, Prothena started a phase 2 trial, using doses most likely to reduce “pathogenic” alpha-synuclein levels, later this quarter; and has now announced the enrolment its first patient.
The antibody was deemed safe across all doses tested in the phase 1b study, penetrating the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and rapidly reduced levels of alpha-synuclein, particularly an aggregated form that is thought to play a role in Parkinson’s pathology, said the company’s president and CEO, Gene Kinney, Ph.D.
Reaching this
milestone has triggered a $30M payment from Roche, on top of the $45M (€40M) that Prothena has already received from the ongoing partnership, which started in 2013 and could reach up to $600M (€530M).
