Find Therapeutics Inc (Montreal, Quebec) and SATT Conectus (Strasbourg, France) have signed an exclusive worldwide license to develop a promising therapy for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Optic Neuritis (ON) based on a new class of compounds. Promising preclinical data show that this innovative therapy, by overcoming the molecular barriers of myelin regeneration, could restore myelin function. For MS patients, it is the hope of being able to stabilize the disease by slowing down physical disability or even accelerate functional recovery. Multiple sclerosis is a major public health issue with more than 1 million people living with MS in North America and almost 3 million people globally struggle with the disease each day. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Canada has one of the highest MS rates in the world with 1 in every 400 people affected. People diagnosed with this progressive autoimmune disease experience worsening symptoms over time as the patient’s own immune system attacks and destroys myelin that envelops and protects elements of neurons in the central nervous system. Usually, the body can partially rebuild the damaged myelin, but this process is slow and becomes less efficient as the disease worsens resulting in irreparable nerve damage and progressive disability. People with MS suffer a diminished quality of life and often die from complications of their disease. MS can also affect the eye with most MS patients experiencing ON at some time in the course of their disease. With this new therapeutic approach, Find Therapeutics will use its new generation of compounds that selectively target the regeneration of damaged myelin in MS which helps protect neurons and keeps them functioning normally. Initial preclinical pharmacology studies, funded by SATT Conectus, have demonstrated very encouraging results, delivering increased myelin and better function after treatment. “These results are a major step forward,” said Dr. Philippe Douville, CEO of Find Therapeutics. “A new therapy promoting remyelination in MS and other diseases involving demyelination would be tremendously beneficial to patients and of great interest to the medical community. We are actively advancing the program in preclinical studies and expect to initiate the first human clinical studies when given the authorization by regulatory agencies.”
This new therapeutic approach is the result of several years of research under the direction of Prof. Dominique Bagnard in the Laboratory of Myelin Biopathology, Neuroprotection and Therapeutic Strategies (Inserm U1119- University of Strasbourg, France) which is part of the Institut du Médicament de Strasbourg. “We combined our extensive expertise in developmental neurobiology and our unique drug design approach to demonstrate the therapeutic benefit of antagonizing inhibitory factors controlling demyelination and remyelination in several experimental models of MS,” said Prof. Bagnard. “This research is the result of a relentless scientific investment over more than 10 years during which we had to disentangle the mechanism of action of our therapeutic concept while developing a set of companion assays to obtain the right drug with the expected impact and best safety profile.”
Find Therapeutics was launched in 2020 with investments from CTI Life Sciences, along with partner adMare BioInnovations, and two Strasbourg-based biotechnology companies (Domain Therapeutics and Peptimimesis Pharma). Find Therapeutics decided at the end of 2021 to acquire the exclusive license to develop this cutting-edge technology developed by Prof. Bagnard’s team, with the support of SATT Conectus. “Conectus has invested in this innovative project to optimize this therapeutic tool and demonstrate its pharmacological efficacy,” said Caroline Dreyer, President of SATT Conectus. “Thanks to our network we have been able to attract biotech startup Find Therapeutics who expressed interest in this exciting program. This is a nice example of technology transfer resulting from synergy between industry, an academic research team, and the SATT Conectus. Find Therapeutics and Prof. Dominique BAGNARD’s team are launched on a collaboration dedicated to advancing this innovative technology that could one day be accessible to patients.”
[Source(s): Find Therapeutics, PR Newswire]
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Find Therapeutics and SATT Conectus Sign Licensing Agreement to Develop Multiple Sclerosis Therapy

SATT Conectus Logo (CNW Group/Find Therapeutics)
New potential therapy to promote the regeneration of damaged myelin in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Optic Neuritis (ON)
3 million people are living with MS worldwide – 1 million living in North America
MS is a major public health issue with a global drugs market estimated at $28 billion in 20282
MONTREAL and STRASBOURG, France, June 7, 2022 /CNW/ - Find Therapeutics Inc. (Montreal, Quebec) and SATT Conectus (Strasbourg, France) have signed an exclusive worldwide license to develop a promising therapy for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Optic Neuritis (ON) based on a new class of compounds. Promising  preclinical data show that this innovative therapy, by overcoming the molecular barriers of myelin regeneration, could restore myelin function. For MS patients, it is the hope of being able to stabilise the disease by slowing down physical disability or even accelerate functional recovery. Multiple sclerosis is a major public health issue with more than 1 million people living with MS in North America and almost 3 million people globally struggle with the disease each day. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Canada has one of the highest MS rates in the world with 1 in every 400 people affected. People diagnosed with this progressive autoimmune disease experience worsening symptoms over time as the patient's own immune system attacks and destroys myelin that envelops and protects elements of neurons in the central nervous system. Usually, the body can partially rebuild the damaged myelin, but this process is slow and becomes less efficient as the disease worsens resulting in irreparable nerve damage and progressive disability. People with MS suffer a diminished quality of life and often die from complications of their disease. MS can also affect the eye with most MS patients experiencing ON at some time in the course of their disease. With this new therapeutic approach, Find Therapeutics will use its new generation of compounds that selectively target the regeneration of damaged myelin in MS which helps protect neurons and keeps them functioning normally. Initial preclinical pharmacology studies, funded by SATT Conectus, have demonstrated very encouraging results, delivering increased myelin and better function after treatment. "These results are a major step forward," said Dr. Philippe DOUVILLE, CEO of Find Therapeutics. "A new therapy promoting remyelination in MS and other diseases involving demyelination would be tremendously beneficial to patients and of great interest to the medical community. We are actively advancing the program in preclinical studies and expect to initiate the first human clinical studies when given the authorization by regulatory agencies." This new therapeutic approach is the result of several years of research under the direction of Prof. Dominique BAGNARD3 in the Laboratory of Myelin Biopathology, Neuroprotection and Therapeutic Strategies (Inserm U1119- University of Strasbourg, France) which is part of the Institut du Médicament de Strasbourg. "We combined our extensive expertise in developmental neurobiology and our unique drug design approach to demonstrate the therapeutic benefit of antagonizing inhibitory factors controlling demyelination and remyelination in several experimental models of MS," said Prof. BAGNARD. "This research is the result of a relentless scientific investment over more than 10 years during which we had to disentangle the mechanism of action of our therapeutic concept while developing a set of companion assays to obtain the right drug with the expected impact and best safety profile." Find Therapeutics was launched in 2020 with investments from CTI Life Sciences, along with partner adMare BioInnovations, and two Strasbourg-based biotechnology companies (Domain Therapeutics and Peptimimesis Pharma). Find Therapeutics decided at the end of 2021 to acquire the exclusive license to develop this cutting-edge technology developed by Prof. BAGNARD's team, with the support of SATT Conectus. "Conectus has invested in this innovative project to optimize this therapeutic tool and demonstrate its pharmacological efficacy," said Caroline DREYER, President of SATT Conectus. "Thanks to our network we have been able to attract biotech startup Find Therapeutics who expressed interest in this exciting program. This is a nice example of technology transfer resulting from synergy between industry, an academic research team, and the SATT Conectus. Find Therapeutics and Prof. Dominique BAGNARD's team are launched on a collaboration dedicated to advancing this innovative technology that could one day be accessible to patients." ABOUT Find Therapeutics (Montreal, Canada)
Find Therapeutics, is dedicated to the development of next generation trans-membrane allosteric modulators to treat rare and inflammatory diseases. The company was launched with investments from CTI Life Sciences, adMare BioInnovations, Domain Therapeutics and Peptimimesis Pharma. https://www.findtherapeutics.com
ABOUT SATT Conectus (Strasbourg, France)
SATT Conectus is the main entry point for business partners and companies to access all the innovations and capabilities from public research in Alsace, one of the top ranked territories for the excellence of research in France. Thanks to its investment fund, SATT Conectus offers advanced, applicative technologies whose proof of concept has been established, and ready to industrialise. Another type of collaboration allows companies to co-develop high potential innovative projects with public research, in order to tailor them to their specific needs. ABOUT THE LABORATORY OF MYELIN BIOPATHOLOGY, NEUROPROTECTION, AND THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES (Strasbourg, France)
This INSERM research unit is dedicated to translational research focused on myelin diseases. Researchers and clinicians work in close collaboration to conduct projects with strong clinical relevance. Being one of the founding teams of the Institut du Médicament de Strasbourg, the team of Prof. Dominique Bagnard benefits from an ideal technical and conceptual environment aggregating chemists and biologists specialized in drug design. From high-risk to high-potential research projects, the IMS is a powerful research instrument to foster innovation.

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SATT[1] Conectus and Find Therapeutics Sign Licensing Agreement to Develop a Promising New Therapy for Multiple Sclero...

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SATT Conectus Logo (CNW Group/Find Therapeutics)
New potential therapy to promote the regeneration of damaged myelin in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Optic Neuritis (ON)
3 million people are living with MS worldwide – 1 million living in North America
MS is a major public health issue with a global drugs market estimated at $28 billion in 20282
MONTREAL and STRASBOURG, France, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Find Therapeutics Inc. (Montreal, Quebec) and SATT Conectus (Strasbourg, France) have signed an exclusive worldwide license to develop a promising therapy for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Optic Neuritis (ON) based on a new class of compounds. Promising  preclinical data show that this innovative therapy, by overcoming the molecular barriers of myelin regeneration, could restore myelin function. For MS patients, it is the hope of being able to stabilise the disease by slowing down physical disability or even accelerate functional recovery. Multiple sclerosis is a major public health issue with more than 1 million people living with MS in North America and almost 3 million people globally struggle with the disease each day. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Canada has one of the highest MS rates in the world with 1 in every 400 people affected. People diagnosed with this progressive autoimmune disease experience worsening symptoms over time as the patient's own immune system attacks and destroys myelin that envelops and protects elements of neurons in the central nervous system. Usually, the body can partially rebuild the damaged myelin, but this process is slow and becomes less efficient as the disease worsens resulting in irreparable nerve damage and progressive disability. People with MS suffer a diminished quality of life and often die from complications of their disease. MS can also affect the eye with most MS patients experiencing ON at some time in the course of their disease. With this new therapeutic approach, Find Therapeutics will use its new generation of compounds that selectively target the regeneration of damaged myelin in MS which helps protect neurons and keeps them functioning normally. Initial preclinical pharmacology studies, funded by SATT Conectus, have demonstrated very encouraging results, delivering increased myelin and better function after treatment. "These results are a major step forward," said Dr. Philippe DOUVILLE, CEO of Find Therapeutics. "A new therapy promoting remyelination in MS and other diseases involving demyelination would be tremendously beneficial to patients and of great interest to the medical community. We are actively advancing the program in preclinical studies and expect to initiate the first human clinical studies when given the authorization by regulatory agencies." This new therapeutic approach is the result of several years of research under the direction of Prof. Dominique BAGNARD3 in the Laboratory of Myelin Biopathology, Neuroprotection and Therapeutic Strategies (Inserm U1119- University of Strasbourg, France) which is part of the Institut du Médicament de Strasbourg. "We combined our extensive expertise in developmental neurobiology and our unique drug design approach to demonstrate the therapeutic benefit of antagonizing inhibitory factors controlling demyelination and remyelination in several experimental models of MS," said Prof. BAGNARD. "This research is the result of a relentless scientific investment over more than 10 years during which we had to disentangle the mechanism of action of our therapeutic concept while developing a set of companion assays to obtain the right drug with the expected impact and best safety profile." Find Therapeutics was launched in 2020 with investments from CTI Life Sciences, along with partner adMare BioInnovations, and two Strasbourg-based biotechnology companies (Domain Therapeutics and Peptimimesis Pharma). Find Therapeutics decided at the end of 2021 to acquire the exclusive license to develop this cutting-edge technology developed by Prof. BAGNARD's team, with the support of SATT Conectus. "Conectus has invested in this innovative project to optimize this therapeutic tool and demonstrate its pharmacological efficacy," said Caroline DREYER, President of SATT Conectus. "Thanks to our network we have been able to attract biotech startup Find Therapeutics who expressed interest in this exciting program. This is a nice example of technology transfer resulting from synergy between industry, an academic research team, and the SATT Conectus. Find Therapeutics and Prof. Dominique BAGNARD's team are launched on a collaboration dedicated to advancing this innovative technology that could one day be accessible to patients." ABOUT Find Therapeutics (Montreal, Canada)
Find Therapeutics, is dedicated to the development of next generation trans-membrane allosteric modulators to treat rare and inflammatory diseases. The company was launched with investments from CTI Life Sciences, adMare BioInnovations, Domain Therapeutics and Peptimimesis Pharma. https://www.findtherapeutics.com
ABOUT SATT Conectus (Strasbourg, France)
SATT Conectus is the main entry point for business partners and companies to access all the innovations and capabilities from public research in Alsace, one of the top ranked territories for the excellence of research in France. Thanks to its investment fund, SATT Conectus offers advanced, applicative technologies whose proof of concept has been established, and ready to industrialise. Another type of collaboration allows companies to co-develop high potential innovative projects with public research, in order to tailor them to their specific needs. ABOUT THE LABORATORY OF MYELIN BIOPATHOLOGY, NEUROPROTECTION, AND THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES (Strasbourg, France)
This INSERM research unit is dedicated to translational research focused on myelin diseases. Researchers and clinicians work in close collaboration to conduct projects with strong clinical relevance. Being one of the founding teams of the Institut du Médicament de Strasbourg, the team of Prof. Dominique Bagnard benefits from an ideal technical and conceptual environment aggregating chemists and biologists specialized in drug design. From high-risk to high-potential research projects, the IMS is a powerful research instrument to foster innovation.

June 2, 2022
Four scientists have shared the 2022 Kavli Prize in neuroscience, "for pioneering the discovery of genes underlying a range of serious brain disorders," together and separately. The Prize was awarded on June 1 to Jean-Louis Mandel of the University of Strasbourg for insights into fragile X syndrome; Huda Zoghbi of Baylor College of Medicine and Harry Orr of the University of Minnesota for spinocerebellar ataxia type 1; Zogbhi for Rett syndrome; and Christopher Walsh of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for some epilepsies and developmental brain disorders. The Kavli Prize has been awarded biannually since 2008 by the Kavli Foundation, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Norwegian government. It recognizes in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience – or as the Kavli Foundation describes it, "the big, the small and the complex." Genome sequencing has become an ultrahigh-throughput endeavor. But when the Laureates made their discoveries, "the quest for the genes at the roots of disease was a painstaking and sometimes baffling process" that took years. Zoghbi has the distinction of being honored for two genetic discoveries. Together with Harry Orr and his team, her laboratory discovered the role of ATXN1 in spinocerebellar ataxia. And Zoghbi and her colleagues were also the ones who identified missense mutations in MeCP2 as the cause of Rett syndrome. MeCP2 binds to methylated genes and affects their transcription. It was one of the first proteins with an epigenetic function to be identified whose mutations caused disease. The Rett Syndrome Research Trust has described Rett as "the symptoms of autism, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's, epilepsy and anxiety disorder . . . all in one little girl." Boys are even worse off. MeCP2 lies on the X chromosome, and girls survive only because they have one functional copy of MeCP2 expressed in half of their cells. Boys with Rett syndrome do not live past infancy. Making progress in gene therapy
As with many monogenic disorders, high hopes for a gene therapy solution for Rett have been tempered by slow progress. In the case of Rett syndrome, in addition to the challenges of the field as a whole, one challenge is the need for relatively precise dosing. While a lack of MeCP2 leads to Rett syndrome, too much of it leads to MeCP2 overexpression syndrome, which can also be fatal. This need for precise dosing lays bare a general issue, which is that "Gene therapy has real issues in terms of biodistribution," Stuart Cobb told the audience at the American Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ASGCT) 2022 annual meeting last month. "Certain cell types get much more vector than others, certain tissues -- certain brain areas are weakly impacted, others much more strongly." A number of approaches are addressing the issue by regulating the transgene in various ways. But Cobb, who is the chief scientific officer of Neurogene Inc., argued that "the issue with all of these is that they modulate the expression of the transgene, but you've still got this issue that you've got uneven delivery of the therapeutic – hotspots and gradients of expression." Neurogene has developed what the company calls "Expression Attenuation via Construct Tuning (EXACT)." At the ASGCT meeting, Cobb described the method as "a single-gene circuit" where the transgene and an inhibitory mechanism are co-expressed. "Regulation is in proportion to the level of transgene you are delivering," he explained. "Cells that get very little delivery of the transgene are weakly attenuated," while those expressing lots of transgene also express more inhibitor, smoothing out between-cell differences in protein expression level. At the meeting, Cobb presented preclinical safety and efficacy data for NGN-401, which is Neurogene's most advanced program using the EXACT platform. Mice treated with a regulated construct at high doses "showed a profound improvement in lifespan (median survival > 35 weeks) and significant amelioration of [Rett]-like phenotypes, Cobb and his colleagues wrote in their paper. In contrast, mice treated with an MeCP2 transgene that lacked the regulatory part of the gene circuit "showed severe signs of MeCP2 overexpression and most were euthanised at about 3 weeks." The company is working on a second program with EXACT whose target is undisclosed, and has further programs using traditional gene therapy in Batten disease and Krabbe disease. A phase I trial for Batten disease is currently recruiting. Speaking in the same oral session as Cobb, Kathrin Meyer, an assistant professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University, described another approach to Rett syndrome gene therapy: reactivating the silenced X chromosome. Because the X chromosome is randomly deactivated in females, "only about 50% of the cells are sick, the other 50% are healthy," she explained. "X reactivation takes advantage of this backup gene." Reactivation of the silenced MeCP2 gets around the dosing problems because "in healthy cells, you will turn on the mutated gene, which is nonfunctional," she pointed out. At the meeting, her team showed that their strategy ameliorated Rett-like symptoms in a mouse model of Rett, but did not lead to MeCP2 overexpression syndrome in either wild-type mice or female nonhuman primates.

Kavli Neuroscience Prize honors four for genetic discoveries

May 05, 2022 03:00 ET
Wroclaw,  POLAND
WROCŁAW, Poland, May  05, 2022  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Captor Therapeutics S.A. (WSE:CTX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of targeted protein degradation (TPD) drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announces it will host a virtual Research and Development (R&D) day on Wednesday 18 May 2022 at 10:00 am EDT (04:00 pm CEST). Captor's executive management team will discuss the company's broadly applicable OptigradeTM platform and how it allows for the sustainable creation and discovery of TPD drugs. Chief Scientific Officer Michał Walczak, PhD, and Biology Department Director Paweł Dobrzański, PhD, will describe Captor's CT-01 program in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its potential to redefine the HCC treatment paradigm. The event will also feature a presentation by Key Opinion Leader Thomas F. Baumert, MD from the University of Strasbourg on the unmet medical need in HCC and the current landscape of HCC drugs and patient treatments. To register for the webinar, please click here . A live question and answer session will also be held. If you would like to ask a question during the session, please submit your request to questions@lifesciadvisors.com . For those who are unable to attend, a replay of the webinar will be available here . About Thomas F. Baumert, MD
Thomas F. Baumert, MD is Professor of Medicine, head of the Inserm Research Institute for Viral and Liver Diseases (Inserm U1110), director of the Laboratory of Excellence HEPSYS at the University of Strasbourg and Chair of Hepatology at the Center for Digestive Disease and Hepatology at the Strasbourg University Hospitals. His research focuses on the modelling and discovery of the cell circuits underlying liver disease progressing to cancer. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of liver disease biology enabled his laboratory to uncover novel strategies for the treatment of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. He has received many awards, including five European Research Council (ERC) awards for the discovery and development of novel approaches to prevent and treat chronic liver disease. He has published more than 400 scientific articles in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, such as Cell, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Cell Host & Microbe, PNAS as a senior author and is an inventor on 16 patents and patent applications. Dr. Baumert is Associate Editor of the Journal of Hepatology and serves as a member of the editorial board of several journals in the fields of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Virology and Infectious Diseases. He is a member of the US, European, French, and German Liver Societies and an elected member of the American Association of Physicians (AAP). Furthermore, he is the founder of Alentis Therapeutics, a Swiss/French biotech company developing novel therapeutics for fibrotic diseases and cancer. About Captor Therapeutics
Captor Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on leveraging Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) technology to discover and develop breakthrough drug candidates in diseases with high unmet medical needs. TPD is a revolutionary approach to developing new drugs that can address novel molecular targets which are deemed “undruggable” with classical drug development approaches, as well as providing additional treatment options for diseases where existing drugs fail to provide optimal medical benefit. Captor is currently developing therapeutics for undertreated severe conditions, including malignancies and autoimmune diseases. More information on Captor Therapeutics is available at:  http://www.captortherapeutics.com

Captor Therapeutics to Host R&D Day on May 18, 2022

MadCap Software offers single-source, multichannel authoring and publishing solutions, including multimedia and translation management. The company's products are used to create corporate intranets, online Help systems, policy and procedure manuals, video tutorials, knowledge bases, ebooks, user guides and more. MadCap Software's services include product training, consulting services, translation and localization and an advanced developer certification program.

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San Diego , CA and Strasbourg , Alsace , France -- June 22 , 2020 -- The University of Strasbourg located in Strasbourg , France partners with MadCap Software to equip students with the knowledge and competencies necessary to succeed in the technical communication and localization industries .

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The MadCap Software Scholar Program Welcomes.
The University of Strasbourg Partners with MadCap Software to Equip Students with the Skills Needed to Succeed in Technical Communication and Localization.

Humanetics Innovative Solutions is a global company whose strategy is to harness the best of today's technologies for the creation of high-quality products which play an important role in improving safety, comfort and protection of people and their environment. Humanetics is the world's leading supplier in the design and manufacture of sophisticated crash test dummies, associated technical support and laboratory services and load cell crash wall systems. Furthermore, Humanetics develops and supplies finite element software dummy models for computerized crash test simulations and specialties in static and dynamic strain measurements.

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Caresyntax is a surgical analytics and integration services company helping hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers identify and manage risk, automate workflows, enhance knowledge sharing, and reduce surgical variability.

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DescriptionThe University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is a university in France.

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