Safe and effective therapy for neuropsychiatric disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders are still one of the highest unmet medical needs in human medicine. The major problem is lack of innovation and urgent need for of safe and effective drugs for these disorders.
Synendos develops an innovative approach based upon first-in-class inhibitors. The inhibitors were designed and developed at the University of Bern starting from an in silico screening of 12 million compounds followed by a thorough medicinal chemistry programme. In total, 800 purchasable and newly synthetized compounds were tested leading to the selection of the preclinical drug candidate.
Our mission at Synendos is to advance the development of this new class of inhibitors and provide a more safe and effective therapy for unmet needs in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Was ist das Besondere an diesem Projekt?

At Synendos, we develop breakthrough safe and effective therapies for unmet needs in neuropsychiatric disorders. Our first-in-class inhibitors enables restoration of natural functioning of the brain through the modulation a new drug target (not yet published), which was recently identified at the University of Bern after 8 years of basic research.
Unlike current drugs, our inhibitors offer a potential superior safety profile for short and long term use and an improved therapeutic control of the symptoms associated to neuropsychiatric disorders. These effects can be achieved thanks to an innovative self-limiting mechanism of action that mildly but effectively restore the natural functioning of different neuronal circuits. Thanks to this pro-homeostatic effect on neurotransmission and neuronal plasticity, our inhibitors have the potential to become the first effective treatment for unmet needs in neuropsychiatric disorders with enormous benefit for patients, healthcare providers, communities and society.

Stand/Resultate

We identified our preclinical drug candidate with two potential follow up/back up compounds after a thorough medicinal chemistry programme. Several activities are ongoing to finalize non-regulatory preclinical tests, which are followed by regulatory preclinical safety study. Synendos aims to enter into human trials as soon as the preclinical development will be completed.
The identification of the new drug target enables Synendos to optimize a drug discovery platform to identify new generation inhibitors and expand its pipeline.
Since its inception in 2019, Synendos has been supported by a number of programs and accelerators, including the Gebert Rüf Stiftung. In November 2020, Synendos raised CHF 20 million in a Series A financing co-led by Kurma Partners and Sunstone Life Science Ventures and participation of other European investors. In April 2021, Synendos extended its Series A financing with the addition of Ysios Capital to its syndicate of investors. Ysios Capital’s contribution brings the total raised to CHF 24 million.
The Series A financing allows Synendos to reach key pre-clinical and clinical Proof-of-Concept value inflection points and therefore achieve the validation of this novel approach to CNS disorders. Apart from the value associated with an initial indication potential, the validation of the SERI concept will also increase the likely potential in other conditions such as PTSD.
In 2021, Synendos has also secured a prestigious two-year grant from the Eurostars funding programme (EU) of Euro 2.8 million, named EndoCARE, to work as part of a group of four corporations and one academic institution. EndoCARE aims to expand preclinical pharmacology package, proof-of-mechanism preclinical studies and explore potential biomarkers for early clinical studies.
Collectively, Synendos has obtained over CHF 4 million as non-dilutive support from different Swiss and European programmes, accelerators and foundations.

Publikationen

Reynoso-Moreno I, Tietz S, Vallini E, Engelhardt B, Gertsch J, Chicca A. Selective Endocannabinoid Reuptake Inhibitor WOBE437 Reduces Disease Progression in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci. 2021 Mar 26;4(2):765-779.
Reynoso-Moreno I, Chicca A, Flores-Soto ME, Viveros-Paredes JM, Gertsch J. The Endocannabinoid Reuptake Inhibitor WOBE437 Is Orally Bioavailable and Exerts Indirect Polypharmacological Effects via Different Endocannabinoid Receptors. Front Mol Neurosci. 2018 May 28; 11:180.
Chicca A, Nicolussi S, Bartholomäus R, Blunder M, Aparisi Rey A, Petrucci V, Reynoso-Moreno IDC, Viveros-Paredes JM, Dalghi Gens M, Lutz B, Schiöth HB, Soeberdt M, Abels C, Charles RP, Altmann KH, Gertsch J. Chemical probes to potently and selectively inhibit endocannabinoid cellular reuptake. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Jun 20;114(25): E5006-E5015.

Medienecho

Synendos News

Links

Synendos Therapeutics Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Am Projekt beteiligte Personen

Dr. Andrea Chicca, project leader, Universitiy of Bern; CEO/CSO Synendos Therapeutics
Erika Vallini, University of Bern
Ines Reynoso-Moreno, University of Bern
Prof. Jürg Gertsch, University of Bern; co-founder, Head of Scientific Advisory Board Synendos Therapeutics
Valentina Rossetti, University of Bern

Letzte Aktualisierung dieser Projektdarstellung 08.07.2021

PORTFOLIO

Projektdarstellungen auf der Webseite

Handlungsfelder

Jahr