Australian biotechnology company PharmAust (ASX:PAA) has announced that the first patient has been dosed in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial testing the effects of its monepantel in people living with motor neurone disease (MND).
The company said ethics approval has been granted to make amendments to the Clinical Study Protocol to refine the study design and accelerate recruitment.
The trial is testing the safety and tolerability of monepantel in patients living with MND. It will also look for signs that MPL can slow the progression of MND. This data, with concurrent animal studies, will determine whether MPL should proceed to larger Phase 2 studies.
PharmAust previously announced it received a funding commitment of $881,085 from FightMND for the Phase 1/2 trial examining the effects of MPL in MND.
The trial is overseen by Dr Susan Mathers of Calvary Health Care in Melbourne. It will include a second trial site headed by Professor Dominic Rowe of the Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research Faculty of Medicine and Health Research at Macquarie University in Sydney.
The funding agreement provides that PharmAust shall own all intellectual property generated from the trial.