Header image: Anders Hinsby, Chief Operating Officer; Jakob Busch-Petersen, Chief Development Officer; Rita Balice-Gordon, CEO; Niels Plath, Chief Scientific Officer (courtesy of Muna Therapeutics)
Muna means ‘to remember’ in Old Norse – an ability that is vital to our sense of identity and independence. The loss of this capacity presents a heartbreaking challenge for the many people in the world living with neurodegenerative diseases, as well as for their caregivers and families. Muna Therapeutics aims to bring hope to these patients with therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis. The multinational biotech – based in Denmark, Belgium, and the United States – was founded in 2020, rooted in the science of two world-class labs – Dr. Bart De Strooper of VIB and KU Leuven, and Dr. Simon Glerup of Aarhus University. Dr. Rita Balice-Gordon, Muna’s CEO, explains the company’s mission: “We are dedicated to using our science to change people’s lives for the better. Our goal is to change the treatment paradigm for patients with diseases that affect memory and cognition, which form the essence of who we are as people. We want our medicines to allow people to live their best lives for as long as they can.”
“We are dedicated to using our science to change people’s lives for the better. Our goal is to change the treatment paradigm for patients with diseases that affect memory and cognition, which form the essence of who we are as people.” – Rita Balice-Gordon
Age is the single most significant risk factor for memory loss. Due to increasing life expectancies and rapidly aging populations, neurodegenerative diseases are on the rise, predicted to become a major societal burden for many countries in the coming decades. “As the population ages, these diseases are becoming a significant global healthcare issue,” Balice-Gordon explains. “If dementia were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest economies. Estimates of dementia care costs are currently upwards of several trillion dollars in Europe and the US alone. These diseases present an enormous economic and healthcare burden, with severe unmet needs for patients with no options for disease-modifying therapies.”
“If dementia were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest economies.” – Rita Balice-Gordon
A rocky road
Neurodegenerative diseases have a poor reputation in biotech and pharma as being notoriously difficult to obtain positive ‘proof of concept’ in clinical trials, a necessary step in bringing a medicine to the market. The field is littered with high-profile clinical failures and controversies, although substantial advances have been made in the past few years. These include the approval of two therapies for Alzheimer’s disease: Aduhelm and Leqembi, both drugs by Biogen and Eisai. Balice-Gordon has a positive outlook on the future. “We’re working and living through a wonderful era of promise,” she says. “Two therapies were recently approved and there are several others in development which should be on the market within a few years. These are all medicines that reduce the burden of misfolded proteins in the brain, keeping neural cells healthier for longer. This approach works, though the effect on cognitive improvement is quite modest. However, even this modest first step has generated a lot of interest in companies like Muna, which are developing the next generation of disease-modifying therapies, which can be used either as standalone medicines or as combination therapies with other approved treatments. With such high unmet needs, there’s a lot of room for continued improvement and new approaches.”
“We have two drug discovery programs that aim to boost the good functions of microglial cells while also suppressing the bad.” – Rita Balice-Gordon
Muna is using an innovative all-in-human drug discovery platform to identify and validate small molecules that can be used to repair neuronal dysfunction, resolve neuroinflammation, and restore neuroprotection and resilience to disease. Unlike the few treatments currently approved, Muna is developing drugs that target a specific type of brain cells called microglia. These cells, which are related to peripheral immune cells, have an important role to play in clearing misfolded proteins, but are also implicated in sustained inflammatory responses which worsen pathology. “We have two drug discovery programs that aim to boost the good functions of microglial cells while also suppressing the bad,” Balice-Gordon explains. “Our most advanced program is a TREM2 agonist for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. We know from genetic studies in humans that loss of function in the TREM2 gene is a significant risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. This is why we’re working to create potential drugs to boost TREM2 function – a potent, selective small molecule which will be entering clinical trials next year.”
Muna’s second program is targeting a potassium channel in microglia called Kv1.3, a master regulator of the damaging inflammatory response in the brain and in the periphery. “It has been a tremendous challenge to find a molecule which only blocks Kv1.3 (and not Kv1.1 or 1.2, etc.),” Balice-Gordon admits. “But using our in-house structural biology and protein chemistry expertise, we’ve been able to identify highly selective compounds which are also beautifully brain-exposed and potent blockers of Kv1.3. We’ll be finalizing the clinical candidate for this program early next year and move into clinical testing in 2025. We’re really looking forward to becoming a clinical-stage company and bringing our drugs one step closer to the patients who need them.”
Read this article to find out about Augustine Therapeutics’ approach to treating neuromuscular diseases!
Faith in the future
Interest in Muna’s approach is clearly high: the company raised a stellar €60 million Series A funding round in 2021 from an international syndicate of seven US and EU investors, including V-Bio Ventures. The startup has since received a further €4.6 million grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Now, Muna is initiating a Series B funding round to bring its clinical programs through Phase I and II trials. “It’s a very exciting time,” Balice-Gordon enthuses, clearly proud of her team’s achievements. “Leading this team is a privilege, both professionally and personally. This group of hardworking and passionate people are all incredibly committed to Muna’s mission of creating transformative therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, and they’re a joy to work with. It has been a wonderful journey for me from academia to industry, and I am so grateful for the support of our team, our investors, and our Board.”
“At some point, we will all be either patients or caregivers. But as researchers and drug developers, we are in the business of hope.” – Rita Balice-Gordon
Balice-Gordon is undeterred by the challenging nature of her field. “Ours is a path that’s been paved by many failures.” she muses. “Despite the many setbacks, recent progress gives me confidence that we’ve turned the corner on this long-standing burden of failure in neurodegenerative diseases. We’re now in a new era of successes that patients can leverage, together with their caregivers and their physicians, to come up with the best treatment regime for them. We want Muna to be part of an ecosystem that offers patients great options to enhance their quality of life for as long as possible. At some point, we will all be either patients or caregivers. But as researchers and drug developers, we are in the business of hope. When my mother asks me to remind her what it is we do at Muna, this is what I tell her: at the end of the day, we provide hope for patients facing the daunting challenge of memory loss.”
