Cerevance Achieves First Milestone in Research Collaboration with Merck

BOSTON, May 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cerevance, a company focused on developing precision novel therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, announced the achievement of the first milestone in its research collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada. The research collaboration, which was announced in August of 2022, focuses on the identification of novel therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease. The achievement of this milestone triggers an undisclosed payment from Merck to Cerevance.

“We are excited by the progress we’ve made thus far in our research collaboration with Merck, as demonstrated by today’s milestone,” said Craig Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Cerevance. “This accomplishment further showcases the potential of NETSseq in identifying novel targets for Alzheimer’s disease and various neurological disorders.”

Under the collaboration, Cerevance identified targets using its proprietary Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing (NETSseq) platform for which Merck selected an undisclosed number of targets to advance to target validation.

About Cerevance
Cerevance is focused on the development of precision treatments for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Utilizing a large and growing repository of over 15,000 human brain tissue samples, Cerevance is generating an unprecedented level of expression and epigenetic data thereby enabling the company to identify the most promising targets for the next generation of treatments for CNS disorders.

The company uses its proprietary Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing (NETSseq) platform and advanced machine learning techniques to uncover the gene expression profiles of select cell types to identify novel targets that are uniquely expressed in relevant circuits affected by diseases or are altered in disease states. With the information obtained from its research, combined with the expertise of its team of scientists and drug developers, Cerevance is advancing multiple therapeutics through clinical development, with CVN424, CVN766, and CVN293 being the furthest along in the pipeline. CVN424 is a first-in-class non-dopamine therapy that shows promise in improving both motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and may also have disease-delaying effects. CVN766 is a potent and highly selective antagonist of the orexin 1 receptor which may benefit various psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, anxiety/panic, binge eating/obesity, substance use disorder, and Prader-Willi Syndrome. CVN293 is a novel blocker of potassium efflux in glia, regulating the inflammasome in individuals living with neurodegenerative diseases.

Cerevance’s robust pipeline aims to transform the lives of patients affected by CNS diseases.

Contacts

Cerevance:
Johnna Simoes, ir@cerevance.com

Media:
Andrew Mielach, amielach@lifescicomms.com, +1-646-876-5868