European Biotechs Join Forces to Tackle Neurodegenerative Diseases

In a significant move for the pharmaceutical industry, two European biotech companies have announced a collaboration aimed at advancing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. This partnership highlights the growing focus on precision medicine and the use of advanced technologies in drug development.

Collaboration Details

Swiss-based Indivi and Belgium's Clouds of Care have entered into a partnership to leverage precision medicine tools in the early phases of drug development for conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The collaboration aims to address one of the most challenging areas in medicine, where the probability of technical and regulatory success has historically been low.

The partnership aligns with the European Medicines Agency's efforts to develop new guidelines for early Alzheimer's trials, emphasizing more responsive and clinically important endpoints in early clinical trial phases.

Technological Approach

The collaboration will combine Indivi's expertise in neuro-electrophysiology with Clouds of Care's digital health technology tools. This integration is expected to create a unified R&D framework for multimodal deep phenotyping, merging biological (electrophysiology-based) and functional (cognitive and motor behavior) measures.

Dr. Shibeshih Mitiku Belachew, Chief Medical Officer at Indivi, emphasized the importance of this approach, stating, "It is not just about bringing deep phenotyping technologies together. It is about creating a true symbiosis between clinical development and the science of enabling technologies to design smarter, faster, and more successful trials."

Industry Context

This partnership comes at a critical time, as the pharmaceutical industry faces increasing pressure to develop effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Michel Vounatsos, Chairman of Clouds of Care, highlighted the urgency of the situation: "Age being the principal risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, we are facing a global pandemic. Deep phenotyping technologies will be essential to improve drug development success in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease and extend healthy brain aging across the lifespan."

The collaboration between Indivi and Clouds of Care reflects a broader trend in the industry towards leveraging artificial intelligence and precision medicine in drug development. This approach is exemplified by recent moves from tech giants like Google's Verily, which has partnered with healthcare providers to build AI models for clinical research in various medical fields, including neuroscience.

As the pharmaceutical industry continues to evolve, partnerships like this one between Indivi and Clouds of Care may become increasingly common, potentially accelerating the development of much-needed treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.