Autifony Therapeutics announces £3.3m collaboration to progress schizophrenia drug into clinical trials
Will work with academics from the IoPPN, King's College London and the University of Manchester
Autifony Therapeutics, a UK pioneer in the development of novel treatments for hearing disorders, has announced a £3.3m collaborative project to progress its experimental drug, AUT00206, into clinical trials for the treatment of schizophrenia.
Of the funding, £2.4m will come from the Biomedical Catalyst, jointly funded by Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council.
Autifony will be the sponsor of the clinical trial, with Dr Oliver Howes at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and Professor Bill Deakin at the University of Manchester collaborating on the clinical studies.
In addition, the preclinical collaboration with the University of Manchester and Newcastle University, which was previously funded by the Biomedical Catalyst Early Stage programme, will continue in support of the clinical studies.
Autifony’s lead programme, AUT00063, is a Kv3 potassium channel modulator for hearing loss and tinnitus. AUT00206, a novel molecule with differentiated profile, is being developed against the same Kv3 ion channel target as a potential new therapy for schizophrenia.
Preclinical data generated with its academic partners under Autifony’s previous Early Stage programme suggest that AUT00206 may have potential to treat positive, cognitive and also negative symptoms of the disease, which would represent a breakthrough for patients.
The Biomedical Catalyst Late Stage funding award will now enable Autifony to begin clinical trials to test the safety and tolerability of AUT00206, and then with its academic collaborators to study effects of the drug on clinical biomarkers of schizophrenia in patients.
The continuing collaboration with the University of Manchester and Newcastle University will enable further in-depth study of the new drug’s mechanism of action.