Santhera and Biozentrum Basel participate in the pan-European TREAT-NMD initiative for treatment of rare neuromuscular diseases
Santhera Pharmaceuticals and the Biozentrum at the University of Basel announced their participation in a pan-European network initiative, called TREAT-NMD (Translational Research in Europe - Assessment and Treatment of Neuromuscular Diseases). The program aims at coordinating research into rare neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) and seeks to accelerate the development of effective therapies for these often fatal conditions. NMDs are an area of high unmet medical need with no current therapies.
The TREAT-NMD is a network of excellence funded by a CHF 16 million (EUR 10 million) grant from the European Union's 6th Framework Programme, which will be phased over five years. The initiative brings together eminent scientific researchers, medical doctors, patient organizations and industry specialists from 21 organizations in 11 European countries. TREAT-NMD shall lay the foundation for a long-term collaboration between partners in Europe and abroad to advance the development of effective therapies for these devastating diseases.
Santhera is leading a TREAT-NMD activity package aimed at accelerating the preclinical phase of new therapeutic treatment development, to which CHF 1 million (EUR 650.000) of the overall budget has been allocated. The Company will select disease-relevant efficacy readout parameters and develop standardized protocols and procedures for harmonizing and accelerating preclinical studies of drug candidates. In parallel, Professor Rüegg's group at the Biozentrum will select appropriate preclinical disease models. Standardized procedures and disease models shall allow researchers to appropriately compare results which will clearly reduce the number of experiments necessary to identify possible treatment strategies and predict clinical outcome.
Other news from the department science
