The Nucleic acid therapy accelerator (NATA) have announced a new collaborative project to develop novel therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Their partner, PrecisionLife, is a techbio company specializing in personalised medicine for chronic diseases.
ALS is the most common form of motor neurone disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of muscle control. The majority of cases are categorised as sporadic ALS, which has indeterminate causes. This new project aims to develop oligonucleotide therapies for sporadic ALS.
Professor Nick Lench, Executive Director of Nata, says:
“We are excited to be working with PrecisionLife, bringing together world-renowned experts in precision neuroscience with unique deep insights into ALS disease biology and design of nucleic acid therapies. This disease needs multiple innovative approaches for different disease mechanisms.”
Steve Gardner, CEO of PrecisionLife, adds:
“The ALS patient community is rightly impatient for a range of new disease modifying approaches for such a devastating disease. Co-development with NATA brings a rapid, clear development path for one such novel drug programme.” said Steve Gardner, CEO of PrecisionLife. “We are particularly excited about the opportunity to explore NATs as modern AAV technologies have shown excellent potential for delivering oligonucleotides across the blood brain barrier”.