The CMTA Announces Expansion of Preclinical Testing For Hereditary Neuropathy Therapies

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - March 13, 2014) - The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA), a registered 501c3 serving the hereditary neuropathy patient community (http://www.cmtausa.org), announced that it has formalized a preclinical testing program that employs animal models of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disorders to evaluate candidate therapeutics.

The Foundation has acquired rights to a rat model overexpressing the Peripheral Myelin Protein-22 (PMP22) gene, for use in its program, from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany (http://www.em.mpg.de). An agreement to use a mouse model overexpressing the human PMP22 gene has also been made with the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (https://www.amc.nl). These rat and mouse models exhibit key features of the human pathology of CMT1A, the most prevalent form of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth diseases.

The CMTA has further established a service agreement with PsychoGenics, Inc. of Tarrytown, NY (http://www.psychogenics.com) for use of these CMT animal models in testing of potential therapeutics. PsychoGenics is an innovative leader in preclinical contract research and Drug Discovery, and provides a full complement of partnered discovery capabilities that includes neurodegenerative disorders.

The preclinical testing program will be used to support CMTA consortium research and development activities that involve its STAR network of key opinion leader laboratories and therapy development partners. The service relationship with PsychoGenics spans the development and use of further models of Type 1 and Type 2 CMT disorders that are the subject of CMTA-sponsored disease programs.