Earlier this month, AbbVie acquired Mitokinin, a discovery-stage biotechnology company developing a disease modifying treatment for Parkinson’s Disease (PD). PD is a neurodegenerative movement disorder where dopaminergic neurons of the brain that control movement are preferentially lost, causing slowness in movement, rigidity of limbs and trunk, tremors, and postural instability. It affects over 10 million people worldwide. Dysfunctional mitochondria is a contributing factor to PD pathogenesis and progression. Current available drugs only symptomatically treat a subset of PD symptoms. There is no disease modifying treatment available that can slow the disease progression.
Mitokinin’s lead candidate, MTK-458, is a selective activator of Pten induced kinase 1 (PINK1). PINK1 is associated with early-onset PD. Although mutation in PINK1 is rare, there are 145 known possible pathogenic mutations. PINK1 acts as quality control that enables neuronal cells to destroy damaged mitochondria. The level of active form of PINK1 is tightly regulated within neurons. PINK1 can only get catalytically active on the surface of damaged mitochondria. MTK-458 selectively enhances this active-form of PINK1 without impacting the regulation of the protein as a whole. In addition to PD, the effect of MTK-458 is also under study in models of Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and non-central nervous system diseases of aging where mitochondria are damaged.
PD, the fastest-growing neurological disease in the United States, is a major unmet medical need. With this acquisition, AbbVie has grown its neuroscience portfolio and will accelerate the potential new treatment option for PD to investigational new drug (IND) enabling studies.
