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A potential new treatment for motor neurone disease (MND) developed by a company spun-out of The University of Queensland, Australia has produced successful results in a human clinical trial.
NuNerve, formed to commercialise research from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), has announced its lead drug candidate NUN-004 had proven to be safe and effective in the Phase 1 study.
QBI Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett said the results came after more than 2 decades of MND research alongside long-term colleague Emeritus Professor Andrew Boyd.
The trial involved 8 people with MND and 20 healthy volunteers dosed with NUN-004 over a 6 month period, under the supervision of UQ’s Associate Professor Robert Henderson and Dr Jing Zhao.
MND progressively attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and affects more than 2000 Australians every year.
The team collaborated with Dr Mike Gerometta to engineer and patent an effective EphA4 blocker, NUN-004, used in this clinical trial.
Professor Bartlett said vital funds were now needed to bring the drug candidate through the next stage of development.
NuNerve was formed by partners The Peter Goodenough Trust and UQ’s commercialisation company UniQuest. NuNerve has licensed intellectual property from UniQuest as part of its focus on new technologies to prevent or treat MND. This research has been supported by Fight MND, the Queensland Government and the BioPharmaceuticals Australia Development Fund.
