Autobahn Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on restoring hope for people affected by CNS disorders, today announced new preclinical data supporting the potential of its novel CNS-directed thyromimetic program to induce remyelination in models where loss of myelin is a key driver of disease. The results highlight the utility of Autobahn's lead program, ABX-002, in demyelinating diseases. ABX-002 is an amide prodrug which readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and is then cleaved by fatty acid amide hydrolase resulting in enhanced delivery of the active metabolite to the brain. The data will be presented by collaborators from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus at the Myelin Gordon Research Conference and the Cold Spring Harbor Lab Glia Meeting, respectively.
"We are excited to share new data with LL-341070, an analog of ABX-002, in partnership with these esteemed academic centers and leaders in neurodegeneration and remyelination in myelin-mediated diseases," said Kevin Finney, Chairman and CEO of Autobahn. "These findings further support our hypothesis that CNS-delivered thyromimetics can promote myelin regeneration and offer potentially disease-altering treatments for indications such as multiple sclerosis."
Details of the respective preclinical data presentations are as follows:
Title: Promoting remyelination in a large animal model using the brain-enhanced thyromimetic LL-341070 drug
Meeting Forum: 2022 Myelin Gordon Research Conference being held May 22-27, 2022, in Barga, Italy.
"MS is a highly debilitating disease, in which the promotion of remyelination has the potential to improve function, stop disease progression and address a critical unmet need in this patient population," said Dr. Ian Duncan, Professor, formerly Department of Medical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and 2020 Dystel Prize winner awarded by the National MS Society. "Our findings are highly encouraging and suggest that treatment with thyromimetics can lead to robust remyelination in the CNS, resulting in neurologic recovery. I'm pleased to present these data in collaboration with Autobahn, which highlight a treatment approach that could have a significant impact on people suffering with MS."
Title: The effects of myelin loss, repair, and remyelination therapies on visual cortical function
Meeting Forum: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Glia in Health Disease conference being held July 21-25, 2022, in New York.
"Despite visual pathway abnormalities being one of the first symptoms experienced by people with MS, there is limited research assessing the impact loss of myelin, a key feature of MS, has on visual function," said Dr. Ethan Hughes, Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "In partnership with Autobahn, our researchers collaborated with the laboratory of Dan Denman at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to better define this understudied area. Our findings demonstrate a clear connection between myelin loss and visual function and suggest that treatments to promote remyelination, such as with a thyromimetic like LL-341070, could lead to functional recovery by enhancing oligodendrocyte regeneration in diseases associated with loss of myelin."
About Autobahn Therapeutics
Autobahn Therapeutics is focused on restoring hope for people affected by CNS disorders. Autobahn is leveraging its brain-targeting chemistry platform to unlock new therapeutic opportunities through precision tuning of the central exposure of its molecules. The company's pipeline is led by ABX-002, a thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist, being developed for the treatment of several CNS diseases, including treatment resistant depression, multiple sclerosis and adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), a rare genetic disorder. Autobahn Therapeutics is based in San Diego. For more information, visit www.autobahntx.com.
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Alicia Davis, THRUST Strategic Communications
alicia@thrustsc.com
