The Marseille-based biotech company Neurokin has been awarded €350,000 as part of a €1.5 million grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) for the development of NK-102, a neuroprotective drug for the treatment of stroke.
In the three-year project Neurokin will collaborate with researchers at two INSERM units, which will provide animal models and genetics and functional genomics to support the development.
The research will pave the way for NK-102 to enter clinical development in 2012. After a brain injury NK-102 firstly blocks neuronal apoptosis and then reduces inflammation by inhibiting the proliferation of glial cells. Neurokin has reached proof of concept of the neuroprotective properties of NK-102 in animal models of stroke and epilepsy.
Neurokin was founded in 2003 as a spin-out from INSERM.
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