Fol­low­ing Vounatsos' an­nounced de­par­ture, Bio­gen part­ners with pri­vate Cana­di­an biotech for oral Parkin­son's treat­ment

Bio­gen an­nounced a deal with Cana­di­an biotech Alec­tos Ther­a­peu­tics on Mon­day to de­vel­op a drug aimed at restor­ing lyso­some func­tion, adding an­oth­er can­di­date to the phar­ma’s Parkin­son’s pipeline.

The po­ten­tial drug, which is still in pre­clin­i­cal stud­ies, would in­hib­it GBA2 — an en­zyme that breaks down a large gly­col­ipid in­to its sug­ar and fat com­po­nents. Ac­cord­ing to Bio­gen and Alec­tos, in­hibit­ing GBA2 can al­so in­crease the lyso­some’s pro­ton pump ac­tiv­i­ty and pos­si­bly re­store lyso­some func­tion, which may be im­pli­cat­ed in a broad range of neu­rode­gen­er­a­tive dis­eases.

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