MRC Technology Forms Consortium To Repurpose Shelved Drugs For Brain Diseases

MRC Technology, a technology transfer organization, has formed a consortium to find shelved drugs and re-explore their potential to treat brain diseases. MRC announced the initiative in a press release, stating that several charities have made investments in the project and MRC is seeking participation from the pharmaceutical industry as well. The program is called The Neurodegeneration Medicines Acceleration Program (Neuro-MAP), and it seeks to find agents sitting on shelves in the libraries of pharmaceutical companies.

Mike Johnson, Director of Corporate Partnerships at MRC Technology, said, “We’re pleased to be able to use our unique position at the center of charities, funders, academia, and industry to bring together the right combination of funding, skills and capabilities to really impact quality of life for patients living with these debilitating and destructive diseases.”

Neuro-MAP

Neuro-MAP is the MRC’s latest effort in healthcare research. The non-profit organization bridges the gap between basic research and commercial applications, helping to bring innovations to the marketplace. It works with charities, industry, and academia. Neuro-MAP joins the MRC’s other brain disease program, the Dementia Consortium.

The new program will seek treatments for dementia, motor neuron disease, and Parkinson’s disease. The MRC says research for these diseases has stalled in development. The program has received £30 million ($47 million) in funding from charities worldwide. Investigators intend to ask the pharmaceutical industry for proposals. Neuro-MAP is looking for drugs that meet patient needs, have scientific validity, and have commercial potential. If Neuro-MAP finds evidence of efficacy, it will return the agent to the company for large-scale clinical trials. If any agents show promise in other indications, Neuro-MAP will support repurposing — for example, hypertension drugs for vascular dementia.

Dr. Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at the Alzheimer’s Society (U.K.), said, “People are developing dementia on a scale of one case every three minutes in the U.K., and not only is there no cure, the treatments we have only work for some people and we haven’t had a new drug for a decade. Too many potential drugs are languishing in laboratories because the companies who own them have moved in other directions. By rescuing these projects and moving them forward we aim to bring these drugs closer to the people who desperately need them.”

Drug Repurposing

Industry is also exploring drug repurposing as many efforts are successful. Recently, Takeda engaged GVK Biosciences, a contract research organization (CRO), to take a look at its shelved products in search of new indications. The National Institute of Health (NIH) created a program, Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules, to which pharmaceutical companies submit their old drugs for evaluation.