NeuroVive Pharmaceutical and to-BBB have each received about €500,000 from Europe’s Eureka Eurostars™ initiative to further support ongoing joint development of a treatment for stroke and other acute neurological conditions. The companies have been working together since October 2010 to combine NeuroVive’s cyclosporin A candidate with to-BBB’s G-technology® platform for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier.
Swedish firm NeuroVive Pharma is focused developing cyclosporine-based mitochondrial-protecting candidates for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries, reperfusion injury in myocardial infarction, stroke, and other acute injuries. The firm’s pipeline is headed by cyclophilin-D-inhibiting cyclosporin-based drugs that protect nerve and heart cells following tramautic brain injury.
The Phase III development-stage candidate NeuroSTAT® is a lipid emulsion formulation of cyclosporin-A designed to strengthen mitochondrial membranes by inhibiting cyclophilin-D. CicloMulsion® is the cardioprotective version of NeuroSTAT, which is in Phase III development to protect against repurfusion injury in myocardial infarction.
Earlier this month NeuroVive and U.K. CRO Selcia inked a research collaboration agreement to develop new drugs specifically targeting mitochondrial physiology and pathophysiology for indications that could potentially span stroke, heart attack, obesity, and cancer.
To-BBB’s core G-Technology is based on the development of liposomes coated with glutathione-conjugated PEG for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier. The firm says it has generated proof-of-concept data in animals demonstrating that the encapsulation technology can deliver peptides and small molecules for the treatment of brain cancer, pain, and viral encephalitis. Lead in-house candidate 2B3-101 comprises glutathione pegylated liposomal doxorubicin hydrochloride for the treatment of brain cancers. In June the firm received regulatory go-ahead in the Netherlands to start a Phase I/IIa clinical trial evaluating 2B3-101 in 40 patients with brain metastases.