Yumanity’s Approach to Neurodegenerative Diseases Validated by Two External Collaborations
January 11 2022 - 8:00AM
Yumanity Therapeutics (Nasdaq: YMTX), a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development
of innovative, disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative
disease, today provided an update on recent corporate developments.
This includes the achievement of a research milestone for our joint
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) / frontotemporal lobar dementia
(FTLD) program, which triggered a $5 million milestone payment to
Yumanity from Merck and the awarding of a research grant from The
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to
accelerate early proof-of-concept testing of a promising
Parkinson’s disease therapy.
“Development of effective treatments for neurodegenerative
disease has been challenging in the past when there was a lack of
deep understanding of the underlying pathophysiological processes
of these diseases,” said Paulash Mohsen, Chief Business Officer of
Yumanity. “Our target discovery engine is designed to reveal these
processes and identify targets for therapeutic intervention. We are
very gratified to further validate the strength of our platform
through our collaborations with Merck and the Michael J. Fox
Foundation and look forward to their future progress.”
Merck-Yumanity collaboration agreement
update
Under the collaboration agreement announced in June 2020, Merck
gained exclusive rights to two novel Yumanity programs for the
treatment of ALS and FTLD. Yumanity and Merck are collaborating to
advance the two preclinical programs during the research term,
after which Merck has the right to continue preclinical discovery
efforts, clinical development and commercialization. Yumanity
received an upfront payment and is eligible to receive research,
development and sales-based milestone payments of up to $525M
associated with the successful development of marketed products for
pipeline programs, as well as royalties on net sales.
MJFF grant award
Yumanity was awarded a $500,000 grant to further investigate
preclinical efficacy and biomarker development for YTX-7739, which
is in clinical development for the treatment of Parkinson’s
disease. YTX-7739 is Yumanity Therapeutics’ proprietary lead
small-molecule investigational therapy designed to penetrate the
blood-brain barrier and inhibit the activity of a novel target,
stearoyl-CoA desaturase. Yumanity recently announced top-line
results from its successful Phase 1b clinical trial for YTX-7739 in
patients with Parkinson’s disease and is expecting to start its
randomized Phase 2 clinical trial in 2022.
“MJFF is a globally recognized advocate and supporter of
innovative research toward new treatments to stop Parkinson’s and
ease symptoms,” said Dan Tardiff, Vice President, Translational
Research at Yumanity and principal investigator on the grant. “We
are proud to be recognized by the awarding of this grant as a
contributor to the urgent pursuit of a cure for Parkinson’s
disease.”
About Yumanity TherapeuticsYumanity
Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to accelerating the revolution in the treatment of
neurodegenerative diseases through its scientific foundation and
drug discovery platform. The Company’s most advanced product
candidate, YTX-7739, is currently in Phase 1 clinical development
for Parkinson’s disease. Yumanity’s drug discovery platform enables
the Company to rapidly screen for potential disease-modifying
therapies by overcoming the toxicity of misfolded proteins
associated with neurogenerative diseases. Yumanity’s pipeline
consists of additional programs focused on Lewy body dementia,
multi-system atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou
Gehrig’s disease), frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD), and
Alzheimer’s disease. For more information, please
visit www.yumanity.com.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release
contains forward-looking statements, including statements made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified
by words and phrases such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,”
“could,” “designed to,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,”
“goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,”
“seeks,” “will,” and variations of these words and phrases or
similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements include, without
limitation, statements regarding the potential therapeutic benefits
of our prospective product candidates and results of preclinical
studies, including YTX-7739, and the design, commencement,
enrollment, and timing of ongoing or planned clinical trials,
clinical trial results, product approvals and regulatory pathways,
and the anticipated benefits of our drug discovery platform. Any
such statements in this press release that are not statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.
Results in preclinical or early-stage clinical trials may not be
indicative of results from later stage or larger scale clinical
trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. You should not place
undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data
presented.
Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based
on Yumanity Therapeutics’ current expectations, estimates and
projections about our industry as well as management’s current
beliefs and expectations of future events only as of today and are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set
forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks
and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that
any one or more of our product candidates will not be successfully
developed or commercialized, the risk of cessation or delay of any
ongoing or planned clinical trials of Yumanity Therapeutics or our
collaborators, the risk that Yumanity Therapeutics may not
successfully recruit or enroll a sufficient number of patients for
our clinical trials, the risk that Yumanity Therapeutics may not
realize the intended benefits of its drug discovery platform, the
risk that our product candidates will not have the safety or
efficacy profile that we anticipate, the risk that prior results,
such as signals of safety, activity or durability of effect,
observed from preclinical or clinical trials, will not be
replicated or will not continue in ongoing or future studies or
trials involving Yumanity Therapeutics’ product candidates, the
risk that we will be unable to obtain and maintain regulatory
approval for our product candidates, the risk that the size and
growth potential of the market for our product candidates will not
materialize as expected, risks associated with our dependence on
third-party suppliers and manufacturers, risks regarding the
accuracy of our estimates of expenses and future revenue, risks
relating to our capital requirements and needs for additional
financing, risks relating to clinical trial and business
interruptions resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak or similar
public health crises, including that such interruptions may
materially delay our enrollment and development timelines and/or
increase our development costs or that data collection efforts may
be impaired or otherwise impacted by such crises, and risks
relating to our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual
property protection for our product candidates. For a discussion of
these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important
factors, any of which could cause Yumanity Therapeutics’ actual
results to differ materially and adversely from those contained in
the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk
Factors” in Yumanity Therapeutics’ most recent Annual or Quarterly
Report, and other important factors in Yumanity Therapeutics’
subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Yumanity Therapeutics explicitly disclaims any
obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the
extent required by law.
Investors:Burns McClellan, Inc.Lee
Rothlroth@burnsmc.com(212) 213-0006
Media:Burns McClellan, Inc.Robert Flamm,
Ph.D.rflamm@burnsmc.com(212) 213-0006
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