RhiaPharmaceutical Welcomes Brain Neurotherapy Bio to Expand Clinical Pipeline for Neurodegenerative Diseases
December 16, 2020 – Rhia Pharm , Inc. (RhiaPharmaceutical) is pleased to announce that the clinical team from Brain Neurotherapy Bio, Inc., a gene therapy company based in Columbus, Ohio, has joined RhiaPharmaceutical to expand its clinical pipeline for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
Brain Neurotherapy Bio was established in 2018 by Krystof Bankiewicz, MD, PhD, in association with RhiaPharmaceutical founders Sheila Mikhail and Jude Samulski.
This team will focus on the clinical translation and development of neurotrophic factor gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). The initial clinical program, which is currently enrolling patients in a Phase 1b study, will evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) gene therapy in patients with Parkinson’s disease. This program utilizes a clinically-proven AAV gene therapy platform that incorporates novel image-guided neurosurgical delivery technology in an effort to optimize the precision, safety and efficiency of gene transfer within the brain.
Dr. Bankiewicz will lead RhiaPharmaceutical’s development efforts in these areas. He is a world-renowned expert in neuro-restorative medicine with successful translation of multiple gene therapies into the clinic. His experience includes 20 years’ tenure as Professor of Neurological Surgery, Gilbert and Kathryn Mitchell Endowed Chair and Director of the Brain Health and Performance Center at The Ohio State University and was formerly Kinetics Foundation Chair in Translational Research and Professor in Residence of Neurological Surgery and Neurology at the University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Bankiewicz has both industry and academic experience, is an inventor on numerous patents and has published nearly 250 peer-reviewed research articles and co-founded three companies.
