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Raúl Insa, founder and CEO of SOM Biotech, and Marisol Montolio, scientific director of DPPE (Photo: SOM Biotech).
 09.02.2017

Alliance between SOM Biotech and Duchenne Parent Project to fight against Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophies

The biopharmaceutical company SOM Biotech and Duchenne Parent Project Espanya (DPPE) have signed a collaboration agreement to develop a drug repositioning project for Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophies (DMD and BMD), two degenerative and disabling disorders which appear during childhood, causing progressive muscle weakness and even death. 

 

SOM Biotech is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company established at the Barcelona Science Park with the mission to discover and develop new indications of already known drugs (repurposing) with special interest in rare diseases. Within the framework of this project, the company will be responsible for identifying, and testing in vitro, repositioned drugs to treat Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophies.

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is a not-for-profit organization founded by parents of children with Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy. The asociation will co-finance, With a donation of € 25,000, the development and preclinical evaluation of the candidate compounds for these two orphan diseases. 

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed in childhood, affecting approximately 1 in every 3,500 live male births (about 20,000 new cases each year worldwide). Duchenne results in progressive loss of strength and is caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes for dystrophin. Because dystrophin is absent, the muscle cells are easily damaged. The progressive muscle weakness leads to serious medical problems, particularly issues relating to the heart and lungs. Young men with Duchenne typically live into their late twenties.

Becker muscular dystrophy, which is less severe than Duchenne, occurs when dystrophin is manufactured, but not in the normal form or amount.

•More information available (in Spanish) on SOM Biotech website and DPPE website.