RE:Neuramedy - NM-101 in IND preperation The situation with Neuramedy ("NM") seems quite straight forward, LOOPA441. I'm not going to spend too much time on it. I think
this article provides a pretty good starting point.
NM is trying to treat Parkinson's disease (and
multiple system atrophy) with tomaralimab. NM-101 appears to be straight up tomaralimab and is in preclinical development, maybe. Here's what I think may be the situation.
Many neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD),
cause damage to the blood-brain barrier. As with Biogen and its aducanumab, NM seems to be depending on BBB leakage to get some NM-101 into the brain. It's probably not been very successful so NM turned to Aptamer Sciences to see if an
aptamer shuttle could deliver tomaralimab across the BBB.
NM's drug, NM-301, appears to be the aptamer version of tomaralimab. Because NM has now turned to Bioasis and xB3, I would suggest that NM is not satisfied with the aptamer technology, or at least, wants to test xB3-NM-101 alongside NM-301.
NM-101 has not been submitted to the FDA for IND approval. If NM ultimately decides to advance an xB3 version of tomaralimab, then an IND submission is a long ways off. Frankly, I don't see an IND submission for anything in NM's pipeline for a year or two.
Tomaralimab works by
blocking toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). Toll-like receptors mediate inflammation with TLR2 being associated with the inflammatory processes leading to Lewy body development in PD. The idea is that if TLR2 is blocked then the inflammatory processes linked to the diseases may be mitigated, preventing or delaying the development of the diseases.
To me, there seem to be parallels between the blocking of inflammatory processes with tomaralimab and the blocking of IL-1R inflammatory processes with xB3-004 (IL-1Ra). Besides the low valuation of the NM/Bioasis deal, I don't really like how the NM deal puts Neuramedy in a space similar to one of Bioasis's spaces. But in fairness, I haven't looked at the TLR2 vs IL-1Ra situation deeply enough to compare what their outcomes might be and whether they might conflict in any significant manner.
jd