Galantos awarded €2.3M for Alzheimer’s project

Grant

Galantos Pharma GmbH, which is developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s Disease, has been granted €2.3 million by the German Ministry for Education and Research under the KMU-Innovativ-2 programme. The funding for the project “Novel neuroprotective drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease” will enable the company to optimise the nicotinic Allosteric Potentiating Ligands lead structures it has discovered, in cooperation with various partners from academia and industry.

“The funding provides us with a head-start into the development of innovative drugs to halt or cure Alzheimer's Disease,” said Dr Andreas Köpke, managing director of Galantos Pharma. “[Rather than] removing plaques and tangles as a treatment strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease, we are working on mechanisms that directly control the life and death of nerve cells in the brain.”

“Presently available drugs may improve the cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease [patients] but do not significantly slow or stop the course of neurodegeneration,” said Alfred Maelicke, co-founder of the company. “To directly address neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, we are developing drugs that act directly on targets involved in the control of neuronal cell death. Our main target is a nicotinic receptor subtype known to be increasingly lost in the course of the disease. By enhancing the activity of remaining nicotinic receptors, we aim to reduce or even completely halt cell death.”

Galantos is exploring allosteric potentiating ligands that interact with the receptor through binding sites that are distinct from those for the natural agonist, acetylcholine This interaction leads to enhanced Ca2+ influx into the cell, which fosters survival of these cells. The novel APL mechanism was discovered in the 1990s in Maelicke’s laboratory and was soon shown to be the major mode of action of galantamine (Reminyl, Razadyne), which is marketed for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

Galantos has long-standing experience in nicotinic APLs and brought Memogain, a prodrug of galantamine, towards clinical development. Compared to galantamine, Memogain is expected to have much lower levels of gastrointestinal side effects and higher potency of cognition-enhancing activity.