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Memory Loss Meets Its Match
TETRA THERAPEUTICS
Memory Loss Meets Its Match
BY MARK GURNEY, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TETRA THERAPEUTICS
In life sciences, it doesn’t get more urgent than solving for neurodegenerative conditions. With more than five million American’s living with Alzheimer’s disease chances are readers will have known or currently know someone with this devastating disease. At a very fundamental level, loss of memory is loss of self and that impacts patients, family members and care givers.
Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tetra Therapeutics is developing therapies for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Fragile X Syndrome, and other brain disorders that will potentially protect against memory loss and improve how the brain processes and stores information.
Using structure-guided drug design the company has discovered allosteric inhibitors of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), an enzyme family that plays key roles in memory formation, learning, neuroinflammation, and traumatic brain injury.
“While there has been a lot of disappointment and set back when it comes to new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s, I really believe that we will see approval of the first disease modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease in the next decade,” said Mark Gurney, founder and CEO of Tetra. “It’s very possible that patients will have access to multiple classes of drugs which improve brain function or which may prevent or slow progression of the disease.”
Tetra’s approach to Alzheimer’s disease is different from therapies that consist of monoclonal antibodies that target amyloid beta, a protein whose accumulation in the brain is related to the onset of dementia. Instead, its lead clinical compound, BPN14770 is a novel therapeutic agent that selectively inhibits phosphodiesterase-4D (PDE4D) to enhance early and late stages of memory formation. The compound has demonstrated neuroprotective benefits in preclinical models and has the potential to slow Alzheimer’s disease progression. A Phase 1 study of Tetra’s lead drug candidate in healthy elderly volunteers suggested a cognitive benefit, as observed in two different tests of speed of processing time in complex attentional tasks. The company is currently conducting Phase 2 clinical trials of BPN14770 in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease and adults with Fragile X Syndrome. Tetra recently came to a merger agreement with Shionogi & Co., Ltd. According to Mark Gurney, the CEO of Tetra, “The merger with Shionogi further validates our platform and the potential for BPN14770 to provide a new treatment option for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other debilitating disorders affecting the brain”.
In Fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism, BPN14770 is thought to help promote the maturation and stabilization of brain connections. Tetra is conducting an investigational Phase 2 study of BPN14770 in adults with Fragile X syndrome, an indication for which BPN14770 has received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA.) The study is examining safety and tolerability as well as any preliminary signals for benefits on behavior, cognition, and biomarkers and the company expects to have topline results later this year.
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