France: Trophos gets grant from Parkinson’s disease charity

Research funding

Trophos SA, of Marseilles, France, a specialist in neurological disorders said the US research charity, the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) awarded it grant to support the evaluation of compounds preventing mitochondrial dysfunction in the treatment Parkinson’s disease (PD).

The project aims to establish the ability of two Trophos compounds to arrest or prevent the early PD-like behavioral changes observed in a preclinical model over expressing human alpha-synuclein. Mutations in alpha-synuclein cause familial PD and the protein accumulates in affected neurons in sporadic forms of the disease.

PD is caused by a broad pathology, including the death of brain dopaminergic neurons that are essential for controlling movement. While the exact cause of PD is not known, evidence suggests that mitochondrial malfunction occurs in stressed dopaminergic neurons. Several environmental toxins that produce symptoms remarkably like PD and several genes associated with familial PD lead to mitochondrial malfunction

Trophos has identified a family of compounds that enhance the survival of motor neurons in models of motor neuron degeneration. These compounds bind to mitochondrial proteins and thereby maintain mitochondrial function in cells subjected to various types of stress. The two Trophos compounds to be studied have been extensively characterised, and one of them, TRO19622, has already had a very good safety profile in human clinical trials

“By funding industry partners directly, MJFF's initiative helps us to optimise and advance the most promising treatments that might otherwise get stuck at the pre-clinical stage for lack of funding,” said Katie Hood, CEO of the foundation. “The grant to Trophos is an excellent example of how our capital, while comparatively modest, can serve as a ‘carrot’ to leverage companies’ expertise and infrastructure and speed the development of treatments.”