ExonHit to join PharmaCog consortium

Collaboration

ExonHit Therapeutics SA of Paris has been chosen to participate in PharmaCog, the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) consortium that is working to identify biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.

PharmaCog is focusing on translational science and the harmonisation of research tools, with the aim of making it easier to assess the likely utility of compounds at the early stages of discovery, reducing the development time.

“ExonHit’s unique understanding of transcriptomic analysis will be critical to PharmaCog, as it could enable the identification of blood-based markers of disease presence and progression,” said Olivier Blin, Head of the Centre of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutic Evaluations at Marseille Hospital. “Such markers are critical in drug development because they provide scientists with greater insights on how results found during preclinical testing are likely to be reproduced in the clinic.”

“The participation of ExonHit in this European initiative further validates our SpliceArray technology and our R&D expertise in Alzheimer’s disease,” said Loïc Maurel, President of the Management Board of ExonHit Therapeutics.

“Alzheimer’s disease is an area of prime interest for ExonHit and the experience we have gained developing AclarusDx Alzheimer’s test, our blood-based test to select or stratify patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and EHT 0202, our Phase II compound for Alzheimer’s disease, will certainly benefit the PharmaCog initiative.”

PharmaCog stands for “Prediction of cognitive properties of new drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases in early clinical development”. It is a collaborative project, co-coordinated by GlaxoSmithKline R&D and the Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France.

PharmaCog brings together scientists from five small companies, eleven global pharmaceutical companies, twelve academic institutions and one patient group, in all representing nine countries across Europe.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), an associated partner of the project, will share project progress and discuss the implications for drug development in Europe.