NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – German diagnostics firm Centogene said today that it has entered into an agreement with Denali Therapeutics to conduct a targeted global patient identification and recruitment campaign for the company's Parkinson's disease LRRK2 inhibitor program.
Centogene will use its CentoCard, a proprietary dried blood spot collection kit, to collect samples that can identify Parkinson's patients who carry mutations in the LRRK2 gene. According to the company, these mutations are one of the most commonly known genetic causes of Parkinson's disease, driving lysosomal dysfunction, which contributes to the formation of Lewy body protein aggregates and neurodegeneration.
The arrangement is not Centogene's first in the area of Parkinson's disease. The firm has also been collaborating with the Parkinson's Institute to use a large gene panel to screen patients for genetic variants associated with the disease.
Carole Ho, chief medical officer and head of development at Denali, said in a statement that the company's trials are the first to apply LRRK2 inhibitors in the treatment of Parkinson's.
"This partnership with Centogene is a central part of our global efforts to identify and recruit PD patients with a mutation in the LRRK2 gene into our planned clinical studies," she added.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.