Janus Development, Bioingenium -based at the Barcelona Science Park- and Ferrer Internacional have constituted the TTC-ELA Biotech, an Economic Interest Association (EIA), with the objective of completing the pre-clinical development of a product that is the result of ten years of work conducted by researchers from the University of Zaragoza and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Janus Development acquired the exclusive development and exploitation rights for this patent in September 2009. Over the past year the company has increased its industrial property, defined the regulatory path and the production of the active principle, and strengthened the scientific evidence, increasing the feasibility of the original technology, enabling the articulation of the aforementioned consortium and the obtention of enough funding to take one more step in the value chain.

The researchers of the University of Zaragoza and the Autonomous University of Barcelona discovered that a fragment of the tetanus toxin has positive effects on the survival and quality of life of mice with a genetic mutation that reproduces some of the symptoms of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in humans. In these mice the intramuscular injection of this fragment’s gene lengthens survival and maintains muscle response quality when compared to untreated mice. The gene, once injected into the muscle, synthesises the protein that is transported to the brain using the natural toxicity mechanism of the tetanus toxin. There, the protein prevents motor neurons from continuing their degradation process.

The objective over the next two years is to administer the drug in humans, which involves performing safety tests in lab animals using a product that is industrially feasible and acceptable from the regulatory point of view. To achieve this, the consortium’s companies will allocate 1.5 million Euros to this task. The project’s funding has received a 450,000 Euro boost from ACC1O’s “Technological Innovation Nuclei” programme of the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Innovation, which supports industrial research projects and experimental development of company groups that contemplate differential I+D.

About ALS Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness that ends in paralysis. ALS attacks nervous cells in the brain and in the spinal cord, motor neurons deteriorate and finally die, leading to the brain’s inability to control muscle movements. However, brain functions that are not related with motor activity, such as sensitivity and intelligence, are not impaired. This pathology most commonly affects people between 40 and 70 years of age, and is considered an orphan or rare disease: there are about two cases per year and per 100,000 inhabitants. The mean life expectancy of patients with this condition is 3-5 years. There are approximately 30,000 people living with this disease in the United States alone.