Data-backed drug development and care delivery company Emyria Limited (ASX: EMD) has highlighted positive results assessing a unique MDMA-analogue (UWA-101) for anti-parkinsonian effects.
UWA-101 was discovered by Dr. Matt Piggott and his team at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and is a member of a library of over 100 MDMA-like compounds recently optioned to Emyria exclusively.
Emyria’s Managing Director, Dr Michael Winlo, said in a study involving a gold standard model of Parkinson’s disease (PD), MDMA demonstrated an ability to enhance the effect of the most common PD treatment, L-DOPA. The MDMA-analogue, UWA-101 maintained these beneficial effects but is predicted to be non-psychoactive.
These studies highlight how MDMA-analogues, like UWA-101, can have quite distinct neurological and behavioural effects in animal models,” Dr Winlo said.
“ In this case, UWA-101 has shown promise as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease – a major unmet need, globally.
“These rich data serve as an example of the kind of robust preclinical evidence we already have and anticipate to generate during our comprehensive screening program currently evaluating UWA’s unique MDMA-analogue library of more than 100 compounds that our company has exclusive access too.
“Emyria and UWA are working diligently to screen and identify additional, novel and patentable MDMA-analogues from within the large compound library. Further positive screening results will form the basis of new drug development programmes targeting major psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.
“These drug development programmes compliment Emyria’s interests in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and are focussed on registering safe and promising treatments with major global regulators like the FDA in the USA once the required clinical development and trials are complete.”
Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common, incurable neurological disorder affecting nearly five million people worldwide, including more than 80,000 Australians.
The number of Australians with PD is expected to nearly quadruple by 2033. PD is associated with progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and is generally treated with dopamine-replacing agents such as L-DOPA.
However, long term L-DOPA therapy is plagued by side effects, such as deteriorating duration and quality of antiparkinsonian action (wearing-off and on-off), and disabling involuntary movements known as L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID).
These complications are a major obstacle to the successful pharmacotherapy of PD, and severely impact on patients’ quality of life. Background to UWA-101 Dopaminergic agents, such as L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) are commonly used in the treatment of PD and other movement disorders. In some patients, L-DOPA may have disabling side effects such as dyskinesia, an involuntary movement disorder also called “L-DOPA induced dyskinesia” (LID).
Studies in animal models, and anecdotal evidence from patients with PD, have suggested that 3,4,-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (‘MDMA’ or ‘ecstasy’) can alleviate these side effects, albeit with some unwanted effects (e.g., psychoactivity). By considering existing structure-psychoactivity relationships, Dr. Matt Piggott and his team at UWA created a series of MDMA analogues, including UWA-101 and evaluated these compounds in a series of in vitro and in vivo studies.
UWA-101 was shown to enhance the quality and duration of L-DOPA action, elicit a unique profile of interactions with brain targets and show a favourable toxicology profile but with reduced psychoactivity compared with MDMA.
