Grant for further research into Parkinson's drug

Melbourne biotech, CogState, has announced it has been awarded a major federal government grant for further development into its novel drug treatment for Parkinson's Disease.

The announcement was followed by the release of new animal data showing that CogState's Parkinson's drug, called NLT or Cog0392, has potential as a therapy for the treatment of the disease.

In recognition of the potential of CogState's drug treatment for Parkinson's disease, NLT or Cog0392, the federal government's industry research & development board has awarded CogState a $250,000 funding grant through its Biotechnology Innovation Fund.

The company envisages that this grant will enable completion of proof of concept animal studies allowing the company to make a decision as to whether to enter the drug for subsequent pre-clinical toxicology and human Phase 1 trials.

CogState has also just received the bioavailability results from recent testing of rats orally dosed with the NLT drug. In brief, the 5 fold increase in dopamine levels in healthy rats 4 hours after a single oral dose of NLT suggests that NLT could be useful as a treatment in patients with Parkinson's Disease.

NLT, short for N-(a-linolenoyl) tyrosine, was first developed by Professor Shlomo Yehuda of Bar Iian University in Israel and in-licensed by CogState in 2002.

Item provided courtesy of CogState