NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced that it has closed $10.0 million from new investors in an extension of its Series D private equity financing, bringing the total Series D financing to $27.0 million. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the Company's lead drug candidate, NPT088, into clinical studies by the end of this year. NPT088 utilizes NeuroPhage's novel and proprietary GAIM (General Amyloid Interaction Motif) technology to simultaneously target multiple types of misfolded proteins found in many diseases of aging, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as well as peripheral diseases, including the systemic amyloidoses. GAIM recognizes a structure common to most toxic misfolded proteins, including beta-amyloid, tau, and alpha-synuclein, and disrupts this structure to allow the body's natural mechanisms to clear these aggregates. Importantly, GAIM is able to potently clear both existing and early forms of aggregates.
'This financing underscores the need for a novel approach to neurodegenerative diseases, and we thank our investors for their continued confidence in NeuroPhage and its GAIM technology,' said Jonathan Solomon, Chief Executive Officer. 'We strongly believe our GAIM approach has tremendous development opportunity across multiple protein misfolding diseases and could significantly improve the lives of patients and their caretakers.'
The Company will focus on advancing NPT088 into Phase 1 clinical studies in Alzheimer's disease by the end of 2015. In addition, the Company is using the funds to advance next generation compounds and unlock the potential of the GAIM technology in other diseases of protein misfolding.
'Alzheimer's disease is characterized by two forms of misfolded proteins: tau and amyloid beta. With new imaging agents available for both of these proteins, we will be able to quickly reach proof-of-activity of GAIM's mechanism, which will provide us with a gateway into additional indications,' commented Franz Hefti, President and Chief Operating Officer. 'We look forward to initiating our first clinical study.'
About NPT088
NeuroPhage's lead drug candidate, NPT088, is a fusion protein combining a GAIM motif with a portion of a human antibody. NPT088 recognizes a structure common to toxic misfolded proteins, and through its antibody domain, facilitates the clearance of these aggregates. NeuroPhage has accumulated extensive preclinical data on this candidate, demonstrating its efficacy across disease models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, tauopathies and other related diseases characterized by aggregation of amyloid beta, tau, and alpha-synuclein proteins. The ability of NPT088 to not only prevent new deposits, but also to clear pre-existing aggregates of multiple misfolded proteins, is unique in the field. NPT088 has the additional potential benefit of not binding to non-toxic monomers, an interaction that has contributed to past failures in this therapeutic area. NeuroPhage expects to initiate clinical studies of NPT088 in late 2015.
About Protein Misfolding Diseases:
There are over 40 human diseases with pathophysiology attributable to protein misfolding and misfolded protein aggregation. These diseases include neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), tauopathies, prion protein diseases, as well as peripheral amyloidoses, such as immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis caused by myeloma.
About NeuroPhage
NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pioneering, privately funded biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. NeuroPhage's mission is to advance the treatment of misfolded protein diseases through GAIM therapy, simultaneously targeting multiple, toxic, misfolded proteins. The broad applicability of the GAIM mechanism allows the Company to target a large number of protein misfolding diseases, including neurodegenerative and peripheral diseases. NeuroPhage is initially developing drug candidates to treat Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, in which multiple misfolded proteins can exacerbate disease progression, and the Company is also targeting several rare systemic amyloidosis diseases. www.neurophage.com