SandboxAQ collaborating with the University of Dundee through The Michael J. Fox Foundation's LRRK2 Investigative Therapeutics Exchange (LITE) program to improve its inhibitor for the gene most commonly associated with Parkinson's PALO ALTO, Calif. , Oct.
29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SandboxAQ announced today it has signed a $25 million research grant through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) LRRK2 Investigative Therapeutics Exchange (LITE) program to advance drug candidates for Parkinson's disease (PD.) The partnership brings SandboxAQ's expertise in neurodegenerative diseases and its Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) to cutting-edge research in the field of Parkinson's research where, despite important biological and genetic discoveries, effective new therapeutics have yet to be approved.
As part of the partnership, SandboxAQ will collaborate with University of Dundee in Scotland to improve the potency and specificity of its LRRK2 inhibitors and to identify innovative compounds acting as allosteric modulators. LRRK2 is a gene identified in 2004 as being the most commonly associated with Parkinson's, however, no new therapy targeting this protein has reached the market. This research grant is to support an MJFF program focused on bridging basic science advances to industry-led drug development.
LITE will include tens of millions of dollars in grant support and has already attracted more than 30 academic and clinical collaborators and more than a dozen .
