16 September 2019 - - US-based biotechnology company Disarm Therapeutics has presented preclinical data demonstrating that deleting SARM1 has a robust axonal-protective effect in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a well-accepted animal model of multiple sclerosis.

These data suggest that targeting SARM1 presents a novel, disease-modifying approach to treating multiple sclerosis. The findings were presented as a late-breaking poster at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Stockholm on Sept. 13, 2019.

In an EAE model, SARM1 homozygous and heterozygous gene deletion markedly attenuates the increase in plasma neurofilament light, a biomarker of axonal degeneration and disease progression in MS. The magnitude of SARM1 effect on NfL was gene-dosage dependent.

Axonal protection through SARM1 deletion led to a statistically significant reduction in demyelination via histological examination.

Disease onset, peak disease scores, and time course were not affected by SARM1 deletion, suggesting that the benefits of SARM1 genetic deletion are not due to interference with the inflammation-driven disease process in this EAE animal model of MS.

Disarm Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that is creating a new class of disease-modifying therapeutics for patients with axonal degeneration, a central driver of neurological disease-causing disability and disease progression.

By inhibiting the SARM1 protein, identified by the company's scientific founders as the central driver of axonal degeneration, these therapeutics may prevent the loss of axons in chronic and acute diseases of the central, ocular, and peripheral nervous systems.

For a broad range of diseases including multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, glaucoma, and peripheral neuropathies, the therapeutic goal is to prevent further degeneration, stabilize disease, and allow for functional recovery.

Disarm was founded by Atlas Venture, Dr. Jeffrey Milbrandt and Dr. Aaron DiAntonio of Washington University in St. Louis, and a team of exceptional scientists and drug developers committed to developing a new treatment paradigm for patients with neurological diseases.