
16 March 2022
Stratified medicine company Monument Therapeutics announces two new developments
Manchester, UK, March 14, 2022: Monument Therapeutics, a stratified medicine company, today announced it will be presenting their positive preclinical results for MT1980, a lipid-based reformulation of an on-market anti-inflammatory compound, at the AD/PD conference, 15-20th March 2022. Findings will be presented from preclinical pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic experiments that support the development of MT1980 for a range of major neurological and psychiatric conditions associated with neuroinflammation, including Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, depression, post-operative cognitive decline and Long Covid. The success of MT1980 so far is a vindication of Monument’s strategy to de-risk development by reformulating drugs with a favourable safety profile and proven mechanism of action.
MT1980 is being developed as a novel formulation using proprietary lipid technology to solve issues related to poor pharmacokinetics and blood brain barrier penetration, maximally leveraging pharmacology in the brain that would not otherwise be accessible with the standard, on-market formulation of the compound.
Kiri Granger, Chief Scientific Officer of Monument Therapeutics, said: “Our preclinical work has enabled us to rapidly establish pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic improvements with MT1980 compared to standard formulations of the drug and we are delighted to be able to present these promising findings at the AD/PD conference. Combined with our patient stratification approach using digital biomarkers, we believe MT1980 has the potential to address the major problem of cognitive impairment associated with neuroinflammation for a range of therapeutic indications of high unmet need.”
The company has also announced it will be presenting data to support their novel biomarker that can predict risk of an individual developing Post-Operative Cognitive Decline (POCD), at the AD/PD conference. Findings will be presented from the analysis of a large European dataset that included over 1000 patients that were cognitively and clinically assessed both before and after multiple types of elective surgical procedures.
POCD is a condition arising from any major surgery, where substantial cognitive impairment arises due partly to neuroinflammation triggered by surgery elsewhere in the body. It is common in people over the age of 65 both immediately (50-80% at discharge1) and persistently (10-30% six months post-surgery,2). Almost 250 million major surgical procedures are performed globally every year3 but there is no clinical or standard means for identifying at-risk patients.
Kiri Granger, Chief Scientific Officer of Monument Therapeutics, said: “POCD effects a substantial proportion of patients following elective surgery and right now there is no standardized way to identify patients that are at high risk for developing cognitive impairment, despite the fact surgery can significantly accelerate decline in individuals diagnosed with mild-cognitive-impairment or Alzheimer’s disease. Our digital prediction tool, identifying patients at highest risk for developing POCD, provides major medical advancement to this field.”