Yumanity Therapeutics Announces First Clinical Candidate for the Potential Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

September 5, 2018 |

4 min read

First-in-Human Trials Planned for the Fourth Quarter of 2019

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Yumanity Therapeutics, a company focused on discovering transformative therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases, today announced its lead clinical candidate, YTX-7739, is entering IND-enabling studies for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. YTX-7739 is a novel therapeutic, focused on a novel target newly identified to play a role in Parkinson’s Disease discovered using Yumanity Therapeutics’ proprietary drug discovery platform. YTX-7739 is expected to enter first-in-human studies by the fourth quarter of 2019.

“In two short years, the team at Yumanity has made unprecedented progress advancing our lead program to development stage candidate,” said Ken Rhodes, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Yumanity Therapeutics. “Our proprietary discovery platforms have revealed novel targets and therapeutic approaches to neurodegenerative diseases, enabling us to bring YTX-7739 forward for development on an accelerated timeframe. We’re excited to initiate our collaboration with Evotec, leveraging the strength of their INDiGO platform to begin development of YTX-7739.”

Evotec will apply their industry-leading INDiGO platform to support clinical development of YTX-7739. The INDiGO platform is a component of Evotec’s broad EVT Execute business strategy and accelerates drug candidates into the clinic by reducing time from nomination to IND submission to 52 weeks or less. Accelerated development is achieved by tightly integrating traditional drug development activities into a single project managed under one roof.

About YTX-7739

YTX-7739 is Yumanity Therapeutics’ proprietary lead candidate designed to inhibit the activity of a novel target that plays an important and previously unrecognized role in the neurotoxicity caused by the a-synuclein protein, a major driver of Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. Misfolding and aggregation of the a-synuclein protein triggers a cascade of events, ultimately resulting in neurotoxicity and the subsequent disorders in movement and cognition that affect people living with these diseases. YTX-7739 has been shown to inhibit many of the key aspects of a-synuclein toxicity.

About Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system and impacts both motor and non-motor functions. It is one of the most common age-related neurodegenerative diseases, affecting an estimated 0.5 to 1 percent of people 65 to 69 years of age, rising to 1 to 3 percent of the population over the age of 80.¹ Symptom severity and disease progression differ between individuals, but typically include slowness of movement (bradykinesia), trembling in the extremities (tremors), stiffness (rigidity), cognitive or behavioral abnormalities, sleep disturbances, and sensory dysfunction.² There is no laboratory or blood test for Parkinson’s disease, so diagnosis is made based on clinical observation.³ Currently, there is no cure and available treatments only address the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, not the underlying causes.

About Yumanity Therapeutics

Yumanity Therapeutics is transforming drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding. Formed in 2014 by renowned biotech industry leader Tony Coles, M.D., and protein folding science pioneer Susan Lindquist, Ph.D., the company is focused on discovering disease-modifying therapies for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Leveraging its three integrated platforms, Yumanity’s innovative new approach to drug discovery and development concentrates on reversing the cellular phenotypes and disease pathologies caused by protein misfolding. For more information, please visit yumanity.com.

About Evotec AG

Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. Evotec operates worldwide, providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry’s need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery. The INDiGO platform is a key value-generating component of Evotec’s broad EVT Execute business and represents a logical extension of its broad discovery platform. INDiGO accelerates early drug candidates into the clinic by reducing time from nomination to regulatory submission in 52 weeks, and under certain circumstances, even less. Accelerated development is achieved by tightly integrating traditional drug development activities into a single project managed under one roof. The programme has been proven to reduce time and cost while achieving a quality data package for CTA/IND level regulatory filings. The scale of this capability means that Evotec works on 10-15 INDiGO’s at any one time. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com and follow Evotec on Twitter @EvotecAG.

¹ N Engl J Med 2003; 348:1356-1364 doi: 10.1056/NEJM2003ra020003

² J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2008;79:368–376. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2007.131045

³ Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2012;2:a008870