A promising treatment for Alzheimer’s developed by an Australian biotech has won the multi-million dollar backing of a US pharmaceutical giant.
Adelaide-based Bionomics has developed a compound, known as BNC375, which has shown in pre-clinical trials to improve cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in rats and mice.
The new therapy will now be developed by US drug giant Merck after it signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Bionomics, believed to be one of the largest ever deals by an Australian biotech firm.
The compound could revolutionise the treatment of cognitive impairment amidst an ageing population, Bionomics chief executive Deborah Rathjen said.