Raptor to collaborate with Roche on therapeutic delivery across blood-brain barrier

Raptor Pharmaceuticals has entered a licensing agreement with Roche to evaluate therapeutic delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) starting with Raptor's NeuroTrans BBB transporter platform.

Roche will fund studies of certain molecules attached to Raptor's NeuroTrans, a derivative of the company's receptor-associated protein. The agreement provides Roche with an exclusive worldwide licence to NeuroTrans.

Raptor will receive an initial upfront fee for the collaboration, along with milestone payments and royalties.

Todd C Zankel, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Raptor, said: "We believe that by combining our knowledge of the work done in the area of BBB transport and the resources of Roche, our collaboration is well positioned to make significant progress in a critical and challenging area in medical research."

Crossing the BBB remains a major obstacle to treating effectively most neurological disorders. While medical research has identified hundreds of potential therapeutic compounds that might be highly effective in treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's Disease, the majority do not cross the BBB by themselves, which means they cannot get to where they need to go to be effective drugs. The challenge of finding a means to deliver these compounds to the brain has resulted in an intensive search for BBB transporter molecules that could be attached to these potential therapeutics and, following intravenous administration, deliver the drug to the brain.