Bioasis and Neuramedy are hoping to cross the blood-brain barrier together in a new $72 million biobucks collaboration for a Parkinson’s disease therapy.
Korean neurodegenerative disease biotech Neuramedy has obtained the rights to tomaralimab in a licensing and research deal. The therapy is under development for Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare degenerative neurological disorder that can impair movement, coordination, sleep and more.
Financial details were not fully parsed out, although Bioasis will receive an undisclosed upfront fee and later become eligible for the $72 million in milestone payments as well as royalties.
Bioasis’ platform aims to deliver therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier, an important membrane that shields the brain from toxicities but can also prevent therapeutics from having an impact. The biotech has candidates in the works for Gaucher disease type 2, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, pain, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
Neuramedy is not the first company to be interested in Bioasis’ work: In April, none other than Johnson & Johnson reached a deal with the tiny company for help getting drugs across the blood-brain barrier. Chiesi, Daiichi Sankyo and Prothena have also signed deals with the company.
J&J did not reveal financial details in the announcement of its Bioasis pact, but what’s clear is that the small company needed some cash. At the beginning of the year, Bioasis warned that it only had funding “through approximately May 2022.”
Neuramedy, meanwhile, is focused on neurodegenerative diseases, and tomaralimab will become its lead therapy; it's to be named NM-101 for the Parkinson's indication and NM-103 for MSA. The therapy is currently being prepared for human testing.