The partnership will initially apply blood-based circular RNA profiling to PharmatrophiX’s LM11A-31 in Alzheimer’s, with potential expansion across its neurodegeneration pipeline.
LM11A-31 is the company’s first-in-class small molecule that acts on the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) to address mechanisms of neurodegeneration and encourage synaptic resilience.
Under the initial workstream, Circular Genomics will deploy its research-use-only CircPath molecular profiling system to examine baseline molecular differences and track biological pathway shifts during treatment.
The partners intend to combine the circRNA findings with cognitive, clinical, imaging, proteomic, and established Alzheimer’s biomarker metrics to analyse pharmacodynamic responses and patient biology for future clinical studies.
PharmatrophiX CEO David Setboun said: “LM11A-31 is designed to protect brain cells and their connections by targeting underlying mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Understanding how the drug affects these processes in patients is central to our development strategy.
“This strategic collaboration with Circular Genomics will allow us to explore how a simple blood test could provide deeper insights into how patients respond to treatment.
“These findings may also help inform future clinical trials of LM11A-31 and potentially support the development of other therapies across our neurodegeneration pipeline.”
The companies also plan to assess broadening their work into additional neurotrophin-receptor programmes by mutual agreement.
Potential therapeutic areas under consideration include Alzheimer’s disease, HIV-associated dementia, and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
Both organisations also intend to seek joint grants and non-dilutive funding to finance translational biomarker research across their pipelines.
Circular Genomics president and CEO Paul Sargeant said: “The next generation of neurodegenerative drug development will require biomarkers that do more than measure disease burden—they must help us understand the biology changing in response to therapy.
“This collaboration gives us the opportunity to apply circRNA biology to a differentiated therapeutic programme and demonstrate how our platform can provide pathway-level insight into pharmacodynamic response and patient heterogeneity.”