LEEDS, England, May 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 4D pharma plc (AIM:
DDDD), a pharmaceutical company leading the development of Live
Biotherapeutics, today announces its participation in the Neuro4D
conference, Frankfurt, Germany,
13-14 May, 2019.
4D's Research and Development team is giving a poster
presentation entitled "Gut microbiome-derived bacterial strains
have the ability to modulate neuroinflammation and
neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease models" on preclinical
data from the Company's lead Parkinson's disease candidates,
MRx0005 and MRx0029.
These two single-strain Live Biotherapeutic candidates were
selected using 4D's proprietary MicroRx® platform.
They act in different but complementary ways, both relevant to
Parkinson's disease. MRx0005 exhibited neuroprotective effects in
terms of reducing neuroinflammation in vitro and MRx0029
demonstrated the ability to protect against the loss of
dopaminergic neurons (neurons that produce dopamine), in an
industry-standard preclinical model.
Alex Stevenson, 4D's Chief
Scientific Officer, commented, "We are excited to see these
neuroprotective effects in preclinical models of Parkinson's
disease. Our aim is to develop a well-tolerated novel class
of therapy that acts on the main disease pathologies and not only
halts the progression of the disease but also reverses it."
4D pharma's Dr Anna Ettorre,
Senior Immunologist Team Leader, will give a presentation on the
same subject, "From Screening to Pre-Clinical Efficacy of
Microbiome-Derived Bacterial Strains that Modulate
Neuroinflammatory and Neurodegenerative Processes in Parkinson's
Disease models" at the Keystone Symposia: Neurodegenerative
Diseases: New Insights and Therapeutic Opportunities, USA on June
19.
A copy of the poster can be found at:
https://www.4dpharmaplc.com/en/newsroom/posters-and-publications
About 4D
Founded in February 2014, 4D is a
world leader in the development of Live Biotherapeutics, a novel
and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological
products that contain a live organism, such as a bacterium, that is
applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. 4D
has developed a proprietary platform that rationally identifies
novel bacteria based on a deep understanding of function and
mechanism. 4D's Live Biotherapeutic products are orally delivered
single strains of bacteria that are naturally found in the healthy
human gut. 4D has three clinical studies in progress, namely a
phase II clinical study of Blautix in Irritable Bowel Syndrome, a
phase I/II study of MRx0518 in combination with
Keytruda® in solid tumours and a phase I study of
MRx0518 in a neoadjuvant setting for patients with solid tumours.
Other focus programmes include disease areas such as asthma and CNS
disease.
About Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that
mainly affects the movement system. People with Parkinson's don't
have enough of the chemical dopamine because some of the nerve
cells (dopaminergic neurons), located in part of the brain called
the substantia nigra, that make it have died. Dopamine
plays a vital role in regulating the movement of the body. A
reduction in dopamine is responsible for many of the symptoms of
Parkinson's disease. Early in the disease the disease, the most
obvious symptoms are shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and
difficulty with walking. Thinking and behavioral problems may also
occur. Dementia becomes common in the advanced stages of the
disease. Parkinson's disease is the second most common
age-related neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease.
An estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide have Parkinson's
disease.
For more information, refer to https://www.4dpharmaplc.com/.
For further information please contact:
4D
Duncan Peyton, Chief
Executive Officer: +44 (0)113-895-0130
Fay Weston, Head of Investor
Relations: +44 (0)7990-381713