Santhera joins TREAT-NMD with Biozentrum

Santhera, a Swiss specialty drugmaker focused on neuromuscular diseases, and the Biozentrum at the University of Basel, will together participate in a pan-European network initiative called TREAT-NMD (Translational Research in Europe - Assessment and Treatment of Neuromuscular Diseases). The program aims at coordinating research into rare NMDs and seeks to accelerate the development of effective therapies for these often fatal conditions.

NMDs are an area of high unmet medical need with no current therapies, Santhera noted. The TREAT-NMD is a network of excellence funded by a 16.0 million Swiss francs ($13.3 million) grant from the European Union's Sixth Framework Program, which will be phased over five years.

Santhera is leading a TREAT-NMD activity package aimed at accelerating the preclinical phase of new therapeutic treatment development, to which 1.0 Swiss francs of the overall budget has been allocated. The company will select disease-relevant efficacy readout parameters and develop standardized protocols and procedures for harmonizing and accelerating preclinical studies of drug candidates.