InterMed Discovery Receives Michael J. Fox Foundation Award for IMD-026259
InterMed Discovery (IMD) announced that it has received an award from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research for its programme to develop IMD-026259 as a pharmaceutical treatment to challenge neuro-degeneration in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
PD is a disease of progressive neuro-degeneration where the cells of particular brain regions involved in the production of dopamine die progressively in a process involving “oxidative stress”. The oxidative stress seen in PD is caused by dysfunctional mitochondria activating the downstream signal protein HIF-1. Therefore negative regulation of the HIF-1 signal is thought to be a valid therapeutic strategy towards reduction of neurotoxicity mediated by oxidative stress and subsequent neuro-inflammation. IMD’s naturally based product candidate IMD-026259 inhibits HIF-1 and has already demonstrated potent neuro-protective capabilities in several biological models including PD.
“Due to its innovative point of intervention, we consider IMD-026259 to be a novel disease-modifying therapeutic approach to oxidative stress related, neuro-inflammatory diseases such as PD,” said Philipp Wabnitz, Head Pharmacology at InterMed Discovery.
“These funds will enable us to further substantiate preclinical proof of principle towards development of this promising product candidate,“ said Dr. Thomas Henkel, co-Managing Director of InterMed Discovery.
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