Digestome Therapeutics, a biotech company developing first-in-class therapeutics that stimulate the central nervous system (CNS) via the gut-brain-axis, announced the completion of an exclusive out-licensing agreement of DGX-001 in the greater China territory with Zhongze Therapeutics.
DGX-001 is a first-in-class oral therapeutic being initially developed for the treatment of negative symptoms and cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia, and of non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s Disease. The innovative drug is gut-acting and gut-restricted. It acts on the CNS via the vagus nerve, thereby modulating parasympathetic activity. DGX-001 is slated to initiate first-in-human studies in Q1, 2022.
“Digestome is excited to work with Zhongze Therapeutics to develop DGX-001 for the greater China markets,” said Ken Horne, President of Digestome Therapeutics. “Zhongze and Digestome share a common vision to develop new drugs with novel mechanisms to address the numerous unmet clinical needs in psychiatric and neurology indications,” continued Mr. Horne. “Zhongze is thrilled to work with Digestome Therapeutics to develop DGX-001 for Chinese patients in need of innovative therapies,” commented Xianbo Zhou, MD, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Zhongze Therapeutics. “DGX-001 represents an exciting and promising opportunity to treat a wide range of patients suffering from CNS diseases.”
About Zhongze Therapeutics
Zhongze Therapeutics, with offices in Shanghai China and Victoria Australia, is a clinical stage biotech company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative and transformative therapies for both psychiatric and neurological disorders. A pioneer in neuroplasticity hypothesis-based drug discovery and precision neurology, Zhongze Therapeutics integrates target- and phenotypic-based drug discovery with precision neurology approaches to discover and develop effective CNS therapies more efficiently. Our leading assets are a phase II combo drug for substance use disorders and a phase I small molecule for schizophrenia.