Autifony Therapeutics Ltd.. (1/18/19). "Press Release: Autifony Therapeutics Achieves First Milestone in Agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim for a Novel Therapeutic Approach to a Range of CNS Disorders". Stevenage.

	Organisation	Autifony Therapeutics Ltd.
	Group	Autifony (Group)
	Organisation 2	Boehringer Ingelheim (Group)
	Product	AUT00206 (Autifony Therapeutics)
	Product 2	clinical research
	Index term	Boehringer–Autifony: CNS drugs, 201712–202008 collab €25m upfront + €627.5m milestones excl option to KV3.1/3.2 modulators for BI TERMINATED 8/20
	Person	Large, Charles (Autifony 201712 CEO before CSO)
	Person 2	Watson, Tim (Instinctif Partners 201807)

Autifony Therapeutics Limited (“Autifony”), a clinical stage company developing new drugs to treat serious disorders of the nervous system, today announced that the first milestone has successfully been achieved under Autifony’s option agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. As announced previously, Boehringer Ingelheim acquired an exclusive option to purchase Autifony’s Kv3.1/3.2 positive modulator platform in December 2017. Further details of the milestone were not disclosed.

Included in the agreement is the lead molecule, AUT00206, which is currently under evaluation in a Phase Ib clinical trial in patients with schizophrenia. Further molecules are showing significant promise, both in schizophrenia and other indications. The approach also has the potential to treat other CNS disorders in areas of unmet medical need, such as hearing disorders and Fragile X syndrome.

Dr. Giuseppe Alvaro, Chief Research Officer of Autifony Therapeutics, said: “Achieving this milestone confirms the excellent progress of our Kv3.1/3.2 programme, and is a great way to mark the first anniversary of our agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. We look forward to a year of further progress in developing an exciting set of assets with the potential to change the treatment paradigm in a range of CNS disorders.”

About Autifony Therapeutics Ltd

Autifony Therapeutics is an independent UK based biotechnology company formed in 2011 as a spin-out from GSK, which retains equity in the company. The Company is focused on the development of high value, novel medicines to treat serious diseases of the central nervous system. It is funded by SV Health Investors, Touchstone Innovations plc (now part of IP Group), Pfizer Venture Investments, International Biotechnology Trust PLC, and UCL Business plc. For more information see www.autifony.com.

About Boehringer Ingelheim

Innovative medicines for people and animals have for more than 130 years been what the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim stands for. Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies and to this day remains family-owned. Day by day, some 50,000 employees create value through innovation for the three business areas human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of around 15.9 billion euros. With more than three billion euros, R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.6 per cent of net sales.

Social responsibility comes naturally to Boehringer Ingelheim. That is why the company is involved in social projects such as the “Making More Health” initiative. Boehringer Ingelheim also actively promotes workforce diversity and benefits from its employees’ different experiences and skills. Furthermore, the focus is on environmental protection and sustainability in everything the company does. More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.

About Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia remains a major healthcare challenge throughout the world. Patients with the condition have a poor quality of life and prognosis. Antipsychotics are the main treatment but in up to a third of people with schizophrenia, the illness shows a poor response to these drugs. Particularly debilitating are cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as poor decision making, attention and memory, and negative symptoms, such as social withdrawal and anhedonia, which make work and relationships difficult to sustain. Side effects of the currently approved antipsychotic drugs are also problematic, including weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, movement disorders and sexual dysfunction. There is a clear need for more effective drugs with fewer side effects.

See ‘The Abandoned Illness’, a report by the Schizophrenia Commission, November 2012.

For more information, please contact:

Autifony Therapeutics Limited
Dr Charles Large
Chief Executive Officer
E: charles.large@autifony.com

Instinctif Partners
Sue Charles / Tim Watson
T: +44 (0) 20 7866 7861
E: Autifony@instinctif.com

Record changed: 2023-06-05