Professor David Dexter, Research Director at Parkinson’s UK, introduced the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech Initiative, an organisation established in 2017 that aims to close funding gaps and de-risk the development of Parkinson’s therapeutics. The charity comprises 43,000 members, many of whom are affected by Parkinson’s disease, and 11,500 people in the research support network.
The initiative was launched to help early-stage projects progress from early discovery to phase two clinical trials and attract further investment. Dexter stressed that many early-stage biotechs fail as a result of the translational gap. He explained that before the idea of the Parkinson's Virtual Biotech came to fruition, funding dried up for many early-stage companies and their discoveries died on the benchside.
Dexter explained that the current investment focus is mainly on Parkinson’s, but they are open to therapies for multiple neurodegenerative conditions. He added that the Initiative’s flexible funding mechanisms include equity and repeat funding for milestone achievements. The investment size is typically within the range of £1 – 3 million. The organisation is also mechanistic and modality agnostic, so there are no pre-defined expectations about what the molecule should look like and what targets it aims for.
Dexter highlighted 3 examples of successfully funded projects: NRG Therapeutics, Syntara and Herantis Pharma. NRG Therapeutics is developing its pipeline of potential first-in-class, brain-penetrant, small molecule inhibitors of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP). Syntara is an Australian company targeting REM sleep behaviour disorder to prevent Parkinson's. Herantis Pharma is a Finnish biotech developing a novel therapy in partnership with the Michael J Fox Foundation. Its Phase 1b clinical trial of HER-096 in Parkinson’s disease is ongoing.
