Pharmaceuticals, Streffer (Lundbeck): "Italian centers also researching neuroscience"

'We increasingly understand neurological and psychiatric diseases from a biological perspective'

"We are strongly oriented towards Research & Development and Italy is a country with important research centers with which we work. Around 20–30% of the turnover is reinvested in R&D. This demonstrates our strong commitment to the development of new drugs, which we want to carry out internally with a thousand of our 6 thousand employees. We have a strong tradition in psychiatry and we are still committed to this area. However, we realize that it is very difficult to find new treatments for these large populations and that is why we are increasingly moving towards specialized neuroscience. The prevention of migraine and the specialized neurologists who treat these patients are an example. The same applies to some of the most severe forms of Parkinson's syndrome. It is in this area that specialized neuroscience represents an area on which we can focus decisively. We are also moving towards rare neurological diseases as a result of a process that began a few years ago". Johannes Streffer, Senior Vp Global Clinical Development Lundbeck, underlined this at Adnkronos Salute during the presentation of the results of the Resolution and Sunrise studies presented today in Helsinki, during the 11th EAN - European Academy of Neurology Congress, which demonstrated the efficacy of an educational intervention and the use of eptinezumab (an anti-CGRP) in patients with chronic migraine and medication-overuse headache (Moh), in particular, in Sunrise, in Asian populations.

"We are increasingly understanding neurological and psychiatric diseases from a biological perspective," explains Streffer. "We have seen CGRP, calcitonin gene-related peptide, to be relevant for migraine and something similar happens in other diseases. In rare neurological diseases in particular we often know the underlying mechanism very well. This means that we can develop very targeted therapies for a specific group of patients. It is not about looking for small numbers, but well-defined groups of patients, and that is why we are increasingly entering the field of rare neurological diseases. This does not mean that we do not also collaborate with other companies. For example, at the end of last year we acquired the biotech Longboard Pharmaceuticals to bring a new drug into the pipeline. Eptinezumab, for example, was developed externally and then acquired by us. In contrast, another pain drug (anti-Pacap) we are developing internally in Lundbeck. We have 25 treatments already on the market and 12 clinical trials underway, with an increasing number of clinical trials, and we are increasingly focusing on development. clinical. Currently, 90% of our pipeline is focused on neuro-specialty and rare neurological diseases."

In this regard, "we have several programs in an advanced stage - explains Streffer - We have a strong commitment in the prevention of migraine, with eptinezumab and also with the new anti-Pacap drug" (pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide) that was presented at the Ean. "We don't know for sure yet if it will work, but we believe it represents a promising new mechanism and we want to verify its impact. We also have neurohormonal treatments, for example for congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing's disease - he continues - We are also working on a project for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), on which we will have a meeting with the FDA in July. We recently acquired a drug for developmental epileptic encephalopathies, now in phase 3, and we are continuing with other partners in the neurological field. We are also working on an anti-alpha-synuclein antibody for multiple system atrophy (MSA), which acts against the pathological aggregation of this protein in the brain. This is a very progressive neurodegenerative disease: we have started phase 3. We are also focusing on neuroimmunology and neuroinflammation, recognizing that many neurological diseases include inflammatory features. We think this approach could have a great therapeutic impact".

"We are very optimistic about the strength of our pipeline," concludes Streffer. "It could lead to 4 phase 3 programs as early as next year, and would allow us to renew our portfolio by focusing on neuro-specialties and rare neurological diseases."