19 October 2018 - - US-based drug developer odin Therapeutics has launched a clinical trial to assess the performance of a new PET ligand that can measure synaptic density in the living brain, the company said.

Insights from the study will guide Rodin's upcoming Phase 1b trial of a novel therapeutic compound designed to strengthen and increase the number of synapses in patients with neurologic diseases.

The neuroimaging trial uses the novel radioligand [11C]UCB-J, which binds to SV2A, a protein uniquely expressed in synapses. Healthy volunteers and patients with Alzheimer's disease will have brain PET scans performed following administration of [11C]UCB-J.

Participants enrolled in the trial will be scanned once for a baseline measurement of synaptic density and then again 28 days later. The protocol is designed to assess the repeatability and reproducibility of the brain scan and its utility in future therapeutic studies.

The study is being conducted in the Netherlands at Vrije Universiteit Medical Center in Amsterdam and University Medical Center Groningen. Leading neurologists Peter Paul De Deyn, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the Alzheimer's Research Center Groningen, and Philip Scheltens, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the Alzheimer's Center at VUmc, are overseeing the trial.

Rodin Therapeutics is discovering and developing therapeutics for synaptopathies by applying novel chemical strategies to target specific HDAC complexes and upregulate genes critical to learning and memory.

The company is targeted approach to strengthening synaptic integrity, backed by a robust translational strategy, has potential across multiple neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, frontotemporal dementia and schizophrenia, all of which are characterised by impaired neuronal and synaptic function.