Serina raises $10M to develop SER-252 for advanced Parkinson’s
Goal: Advance lead therapy into Phase 1 testing in patients by mid-2025
Serina Therapeutics has secured $10 million in new funding to support the development of its lead product, SER-252 (POZ-apomorphine), for treating advanced Parkinson’s disease.
The goal, according to a company press release, is to advance the candidate therapy toward a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients by mid-2025.
“SER-252 leverages strategic partner Enable Injections’ enFuse wearable drug delivery platform to enhance patient comfort and convenience, providing [treatment] to patients via an easy-to-administer, long-acting subcutaneous [under-the-skin] injection without skin reactions,” Serina stated.
The funds are from an equity financing agreement with strategic shareholder JuvVentures.
SER-252 designed to be long-acting in patients with advanced Parkinson’s
Treatments now available for Parkinson’s patients have a limited therapeutic range in which they remain both safe and effective, according to the company. Often with these therapies, dosing frequency increases with time, resulting in large and frequent fluctuations in patients’ exposure to the medications.
Levodopa, one of the mainstay treatments for the disease, is a precursor of dopamine — a brain chemical used by nerve cells to communicate — that is gradually lost in Parkinson’s. Levodopa works by replacing lost dopamine in the brain.
With time, however, patients often experience periods known as off episodes, in which symptoms are inadequately controlled between treatment doses. Many people with advanced Parkinson’s also experience involuntary movements, known as dyskinesia.
Apomorphine is a dopamine agonist, meaning it mimics dopamine by binding to its receptors. It is primarily used to treat off episodes and is administered through a subcutaneous injection (sold as Apokyn).
SER-252 is a novel apomorphine therapy developed using Serina’s proprietary POZ platform. This delivery technology uses a synthetic, or lab-made, polymer designed to deliver a consistent amount of medication for controlled release. This allows for more stable blood levels of the therapy with narrow therapeutic windows, according to the company.
Under Serina’s partnership earlier this year with Enable Injections, SER-252 uses the EnFuse wearable drug delivery platform. That platform is aimed at improving patient comfort and ease of use, per Serina.
EnFuse is designed to allow patients to self-administer SER-252 subcutaneously in a faster way, eliminating the risk of skin reactions commonly associated with other delivery methods.
In preclinical studies, SER-252 safely delivered continuous doses of the medication via a once-weekly subcutaneous injection.
The $10 million in funding is being provided in two installments: the first $5 million was received in November, with the second $5 million expected by the end of January.
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