A SCOTTISH firm developing medicines for those living with Parkinson’s has been awarded a major funding boost from the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF).
The Edinburgh-based Lario Therapeutics, a company developing medicines for epileptic and neurological disorders, was awarded a $6 million (£4.7m) grant from the Back to the Future star’s foundation.
The Hollywood star was diagnosed with early on-set Parkinson’s disease in 1991, aged just 29, and set up the foundation in 2000.
Lario has said the grant will fund its preclinical programme investigating selective CaV2.3 calcium channel inhibition as a novel and disease-modifying approach for treatment of the disease.
Researchers say there is extensive study linking calcium channels to pathology of the disease, and preclinical experimental studies have shown that the deletion of CaV2.3 can help protect against Parkinson’s.
Tom Otis, chief scientific officer of Lario Therapeutics, said: “We are grateful to MJFF for their funding support for Lario’s efforts to test and develop a potential new therapy designed to prevent the loss of neurons that causes Parkinson’s disease.
“If our research is successful, this will represent an important new treatment option for patients.”
Henning Steinhagen, co-founder and chief executive of Lario Therapeutics, said: “This significant funding from MJFF will aid the work out of our therapeutic pipeline and the work we have achieved so far in advancing research in the field.
“This grant will help drive our ambition to progress our CaV2.3 program swiftly towards the clinic, to provide a new, effective treatment option for people with Parkinson’s disease.”
Gaia Skibinski, director of research programs at MJFF, added: “MJFF is dedicated to funding innovative research, such as the work done at Lario Therapeutics, to develop a pipeline of novel therapies that can improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease.
“We look forward to seeing the results of Lario’s research on CaV2.3 as a novel disease-modifying approach for Parkinson’s.”
The programme is partnering with Professor Richard Wade-Martins and the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC) for the study.
