Herantis Pharma Plc ("Herantis"), a company developing disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson’s disease, is pleased to announce that the EIC Accelerator grant agreement has been signed. The two-year grant project, named ReTreatPD, will focus on preparations towards a Phase 2 clinical study with HER-096 in Parkinson’s disease including development of biomarkers for monitoring target engagement and treatment response to HER-096. In addition to the grant, Herantis is eligible to negotiate up to €15 million in direct equity investments from EIC Fund.

“Qualifying for this highly competitive funding scheme is a great recognition of the HER-096 development. The grant allows us to start preparations for the next development phase for HER-096 earlier than anticipated. We are especially delighted to advance our biomarker development with this funding as recent developments have shown that biomarkers play an increasingly important role in clinical trial design for CNS drug candidates,” said Antti Vuolanto, the CEO of Herantis Pharma.

“There is a huge unmet medical need for disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson’s today. Based on the preclinical evidence, HER-096 has the potential to slow down or even stop the disease progression, which the currently available treatments cannot do.”

About EIC Accelerator:

The EIC Accelerator grants funding and investments through the EIC Fund for individual start-ups and small companies to develop and scale up game-changing innovations. More information about EIC Accelerator: https://eic.ec.europa.eu/eic-funding-opportunities/eic-accelerator-0_en and the EIC Fund: https://eic.ec.europa.eu/investment-opportunities_en.

About HER-096:

HER-096 is a peptidomimetic molecule designed to retain the biological activity of the neuroprotective CDNF protein. HER-096 has demonstrated to have a multimodal mechanism of action mimicking CDNF and to improve functional recovery of damaged neurons in preclinical models. Importantly, HER-096 has been shown to readily penetrate the blood-brain barrier in preclinical studies allowing convenient subcutaneous dosing. Thanks to its multimodal mechanism of action, Herantis’ HER-096 has the potential to stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease and significantly improve patients’ quality of life.