Will a treatment to curb the effects of Parkinson’s disease ever be available? Research is progressing well in Touraine in any case. It is led by a young start-up created in Fondettes, CXS Therapeutics. Its founder, Guillaume Brachet, is himself suffering from this disease. For two years, he works tirelessly to develop this treatment with his team, and it is clear that the work pays off.
Test phases
A new milestone has been reached in this third quarter of 2024. One of the preclinical phases has just been validated. The preclinical phase means that the treatment has been tested on cultured cells, and the results are encouraging. “In the coming weeks, we will show on models of the disease in animals, therefore in rats, that we have an effectivenessexplains Guillaume Brachet. That’s to say that we are able to treat rats from a model of Parkinson’s disease using the drug we are developing.“
If this step on the rats is a success, there will still be work to do. With the results of these experiments, the entrepreneur and his team will be able to request authorization to enter clinical trials, that is to say be able to carry out tests on humans suffering from Parkinson’s disease to gauge its effectiveness.
But then, when can we expect to see the treatment on the market? Not right away, according to Guillaume Brachet. “In the best case, the drug could be on the market before 2030he explains. That is to say that we have to gain approximately, compared to a drug which would start from the university benches, we have gained approximately ten years on the development of the drug.“Ten years saved because this treatment is based on already known drugs, for which we know that they are well accepted by the body.
All these advances obviously please Guillaume Brachet, who suffers from this disease. “It’s a lot of enthusiasmhe admits. It’s galvanizing to see that finally, in two years, we went from an idea, from something written on a piece of paper, to the structuring of a company which, after barely a year, has managed to advance to the point of entering clinical trials, therefore administering a drug for real to patients in the hope of treating them.“
Research and money
To move this project forward, the key is money. Developing such a treatment is expensive. Philippe Brussbaumer is the CEO of the “Valeureux” fund, a fund that finances science-based companies early in their development, he supports CXS Therapeutics. He explains that the first inflows of money reached amounts beyond their expectations. “It’s extremely positivehe analyzes. For the first fundraising in December 2023, we aimed for 300,000 euros, we went up to 400,000. And for the current fundraising, we were aiming for at least 400,000 euros, and we are at just over 750,000!” A total of more than 1.2 million euros.
“This money is what allows us to go faster, to properly finance all the experiments and manipulations, all that. to get to the patient as soon as possible“, he adds. More money will be needed, especially since the start-up is also currently working on treatments for other incurable diseases that affect the brain.
