Prana partners with Takeda to study lead drug

Prana Biotechnology has formed a research collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceuticals to study the ability of Prana’s investigational movement disorders compound, PBT434, to slow or prevent neurodegeneration of the gastrointestinal system.

PBT434 is the first of a new generation of small molecules from the quinazolinone class of drugs that was specifically designed to block the accumulation and aggregation of alpha-synuclein. It is expected to begin human testing in a Phase 1 trial later this year.

The research collaboration will investigate the ability of PBT434 to mitigate gastrointestinal dysfunction, constipation, lowered colon motility and inflammation in mouse models, including an alpha-synuclein transgenic mouse.

Prana recently announced results showing that PBT434 demonstrated significant reduction of alpha-synuclein in various preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications.

Associate Professor David Finkelstein, Prana’s senior scientific consultant and head of the Parkinson’s Disease Laboratory at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, said: “This early research is important because our major therapeutic objective is to treat these disabling symptoms and provide an early therapeutic intervention for both motor and non-motor Parkinsonian symptoms in patients which may significantly impact on the quality of life.”