Public Funding for Astronautx Limited

AstronauTx is a biotechnology company focussed on developing new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. These diseases carry a huge burden to patients, caregivers and society as a whole. With an aging population, this societal cost will double in the next 10 years. Current therapies for these diseases are mostly symptomatic and their effects are modest and short-lived. The first disease-modifying drug infusions for Alzheimer's disease have recently been approved in the US. The treatments are modestly effective, require extensive monitoring and have potentially harmful side-effects. Furthermore, they tackle only one of the proteins disrupted in the disease. There is a huge opportunity for more effective drugs that address both the symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases and their progression. One of the major breakthroughs in understanding the biology of neurodegenerative diseases over the last decade has been the discovery of a clearance mechanism for toxic protein build-up in the brain. This process is called glymphatic flow, and it happens during a particular part of the sleep cycle. Slow wave sleep is the deep, restorative sleep during which the brain processes memories and clears accumulated waste. Disrupted sleep is a risk factor for development of neurodegenerative diseases and a symptom of the diseases themselves. Loss of slow wave sleep leads to memory problems and psychological difficulties. It also disrupts the glymphatic clearance needed to wash toxic waste products out of the brain, making the disease worse. A drug which improves slow wave sleep should both improve symptoms and slow disease progression. Unfortunately, none of the sleeping drugs available now have any effect on slow wave sleep - they make people fall asleep faster but do not affect the important processes that occur during the slow wave sleep phase of a good night's sleep. AstronauTx have identified a new mechanism which uniquely and significantly increases slow wave sleep. Innovate UK funding will be used over the next 18 months to create the best drug candidate and assess whether its ability to improve slow wave sleep translates into improved glymphatic flow and slowed neurodegeneration as predicted. This will be done in partnership with the very best scientists in the UK. This new and innovative approach to neurodegeneration is built on cutting-edge science and AstronauTx leads the way. Together with Innovate UK funding, we could deliver an entirely new drug class to benefit millions of patients.