SAN FRANCISCO and CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Sept. 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cantabio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB:CTBO) today announced the completion of a licensing agreement with Cambridge Enterprise that gives the company access to intellectual property from research targeting the Tau protein for the treatment of “Tauopathies” such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Dementia. The aggregation of Tau is a hallmark of Tauopathies and is strongly linked to the onset and progression of these diseases. The licensed therapeutic program contains data and know-how for a set of novel, small molecule drug candidates that bind to the Tau protein and reduce its misfolding and aggregation.
The innovative drug discovery approach, applied to identifying and characterizing drug candidates targeting Tau, was led by Dr. Gergely Tóth at University of Cambridge (UK) and CEO of Cantabio, and Professor Eckhard Mandelkow at the Max Planck Institute (Germany) in collaboration with NovAliX (France), and Elan Pharmaceuticals (USA). The licensed therapeutic program was developed with funding from grants from the Neurodegenerative Disease Initiative of the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and Elan Pharmaceuticals; it was described in a peer-reviewed scientific article in the journal Current Alzheimer’s Research and was selected as the 2015 Editor’s Choice article.
The agreement gives Cantabio full use of the program data and the right to develop compounds derived from the research into therapies. It further strengthens the company’s portfolio of therapeutic programs, its intellectual property in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases and complements its expertise in pharmacological chaperone-based therapeutics.
Professor Eckhard Mandelkow said “We are pleased that our scientific discoveries will be developed by Cantabio to advance these promising Tau-targeting drug candidates into therapies to treat these debilitating diseases.”
Professor Peter St. George Hyslop, Director of the Cambridge Dementia Biomedical Research Unit at the University of Cambridge and Principle Investigator of the Neurodegenerative Disease Initiative grant, said, “ Through this agreement, Cantabio can further develop this exciting therapeutic program, which has excellent potential as a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. We look forward to supporting the company’s efforts going forward. ”
Dr Denis Zeyer, CEO of NovAliX said, “We are delighted to see this program further develop into clinical candidates. We are proud to support Cantabio’s innovative therapeutic approach in targeting Tau and other intrinsically disordered proteins with our unique propriety high throughput screening capabilities.”
Dr Tóth commented, “This Tau-targeting therapeutic program developed by world leading academic organizations such as the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute is well aligned with our goal of developing pharmacological, chaperone based-therapeutics and strengthens our position as a leading innovator in discovering and developing drug candidates with this mechanism of action. We are excited about the potential of this program to deliver candidates to help combat Alzheimer’s disease and are especially pleased to have the opportunity to advance them towards clinical trials, a culmination of research developed over years of collaboration with outstanding research groups globally.”
About Cantabio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Cantabio is focused on bringing novel, first-in-class drug candidates into clinical trials and beyond through the discovery and development of innovative pharmacological-chaperone and protein delivery based therapeutics, focusing on protein systems implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and oxidative stress. The company is currently engaged in advanced pre-clinical trials on its therapeutic candidates and is focused on developing these towards clinical trials. More information is available at www.cantabio.com .
About Cambridge Enterprise A wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge Enterprise Limited is responsible for the commercialization of University intellectual property. Activities include management and licensing of intellectual property and patents, proof of concept funding and support for University staff and research groups wishing to provide expert advice or facilities to public and private sector organizations. Cambridge Enterprise provides access to angel and early stage capital through the Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, University of Cambridge Enterprise Funds, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Cambridge Enterprise Venture Partners, and offers business planning, mentoring, and other related programs. www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk
About the Max Planck Research Unit for Structural Molecular Biology The Max Planck Research Unit for Structural Molecular Biology in Hamburg with their focus on the structural and functional relationships between proteins, multi-protein systems and the protein fibres in the cytoskeleton (microtubules) was part of the Max Planck Society, Germany´s most successful research organization. After closing of the Max Planck Research Unit for Structural Molecular Biology in July 2011, further experimental work of Mr. Mandelkow´s project was performed at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, Cologne.
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Company contacts: Thomas Sawyer, Ph.D., M.B.A. COO Cantabio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. +1-844-200-CTBO ir@cantabio.com Investors and Media Relations: Alex Fudukidis Russo Partners, LLC +1-646-942-5632 alex.fudukidis@russopartnersllc.com Cambridge Enterprise: Catherine Aman +44(0)1223 760335 catherine.aman@enterprise.cam.ac.uk Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH: Markus Berninger, Dipl.-Kfm. Tel.: +49 89 / 29 09 19-30 berninger@max-planck-innovation.de
