Biopharmaceutical company Longevity Biotech Inc (LBT) reported on Friday the receipt of the commercial research funding programme to evaluate LBT-3627 in preclinical models as a potential disease-modifying therapeutic agent for addressing Multiple Sclerosis.

The fund was awarded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through Fast Forward, the Society's commercial research funding programme.

Longevity Biotech said the programme aims to determine the ability of LBT-3627 to protect and repair damaged neurons, while restoring balance to the immune system.

LBT-3627 is in development for Parkinson's disease among other neurological disorders.

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body. Symptoms vary from person to person and range from numbness and tingling, to walking difficulties, fatigue, dizziness, pain, depression, blindness and paralysis. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease.