For our first interview at the SACHS Conference in Basel yesterday, I met with François Conquet, founder and CEO of Prexton Therapeutics. His company’s treatment for Parkinson’s Disease just passed Phase I with flying colors.
Prexton Therapeutics, based in Switzerland, has been focused on discovering new small molecules to treat Parkinson’s, and one of them, an mGluR4 positive allosteric modulator, successfully completed Phase I earlier this month.
Parkinson’s about 10 million people worldwide, with 200,000 new diagnoses each year. Accordingly, the market is massive — almost €3Bn in 2016. It is a debilitating disease characterized by tremors, limb stiffness, slowness of movement and difficulties with posture and balance, for which there is currently no cure.
At SACHS, François explained to me how his company’s therapy might provide hope for current patients.