Trophos, a biopharmaceutical company specialising in the discovery and development of drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today the successful completion of Phase I clinical trials for its lead compound TRO19622.

TRO19622 is representative of a class of novel compounds identified using the proprietary neuronal cell screening platform developed at Trophos. In preclinical studies, these compounds have been demonstrated to promote the survival of a wide range of neurons in vitro, as well as in several in vivo models of neurodegenerative diseases. The clinical trials were conducted in France and involved single and multiple dose studies on healthy adult subjects. TRO19622 was demonstrated to: i) be well tolerated; ii) have achieved the effective clinical dose via the oral route and, iii) have an excellent safety profile.

The successful completion of Phase I means that Trophos now expects to initiate a pivotal Phase II/III clinical trial for the ALS indication in Q4 2006. The trial will be conducted in the USA and Europe. TRO19622 has already been granted orphan drug designation status for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in the USA, and for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) in the EU.
Read the full press release