Biocrea formed in management buyout from Biotie to develop CNS drugs

biocrea GmbH has been spun out of the Finnish pharma company Biotie Therapies to develop treatments for central nervous system diseases based on a phosphodiesterase enzyme (PDE) inhibitor platform created by Biotie.

Biotie has a minority interest in biocrea and will provide initial funding of up to €4.8 million to the new entity.

The new company to be based in Radebeul, Germany, will be led by Thomas Kronbach, Biotie’s former Chief Scientific Officer, who has left Biotie to become CEO of biocrea. Biocrea begins life with a portfolio of three PDE inhibitors at research and preclinical stages, which will be advanced into clinical development by 2012. These compounds have shown efficacy in preclinical animal models for schizophrenia, memory impairment, depression and anxiety.

In addition, biocrea researchers have used the technology platform to identify several thousand structurally diverse PDE inhibitors with high specificity and nanomolar affinity and have a track record of collaborations with Wyeth (now Pfizer) and GlaxoSmithKline in PDE inhibitor drug discovery and development.

The company also has considerable experience in medicinal chemistry, in particular with formulating drug-like compounds capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, and in the design of behavioural animal models for neurologic and neuropsychiatric diseases.

“Our goal is to fill the gap that has emerged since many pharmaceutical companies have discontinued their R&D activities in CNS,” said Kronbach, CEO. “Our team has a unique track record in the field of CNS therapeutics, including the development of PDE inhibitors for the treatment of schizophrenia, and we are excited to acquire the assets from Biotie. We are convinced that biocrea will be able to become one of the leading CNS plays and are currently evaluating partnering and financing opportunities.”

PDEs are enzymes that regulate signal transduction mediated by important cyclic nucleotide messengers. A number of PDE inhibitors have been approved in the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and various severe heart diseases.

Only recently, it has been discovered that PDEs present in distinct areas of the brain are associated with diseases such as schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson’s disease, and memory impairment, as well as with pain.