TreeFrog Therapeutics, a cell therapy development company with its leading Parkinson’s disease program, is presenting for the first time at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, which will take place in Denver, Colorado from April 13-18, 2024.
Parkinson’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 10 million people worldwide and is characterized by the progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. This debilitating disease manifests primarily through a number of motor symptoms such as tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia, as well as non-motor symptoms that can include cognitive impairment and mood disorders. Symptoms usually appear when 60% to 80% of dopaminergic neurons have already been lost, so a regenerative medicine approach that can replace these neurons has great potential.
The poster presentation highlights TreeFrog Therapeutics’ unique approach in developing a ready-to-use induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) cell therapy using its proprietary technology, C-Stem™, the world’s first GMP-compliant encapsulation technology for cell amplification and differentiation. Unlike other PD cell therapy approaches based on transplantation of single-cell suspensions, C-Stem™ technology combined with standard bioreactors enables the generation of brain-injectable 3D neuronal microtissues containing mature dopaminergic neurons. This unique format has the potential to improve the survival of dopaminergic neurons after transplantation.
“I’m excited to represent the Parkinson’s disease team at TreeFrog in our first presentation at the American Academy of Neurology. We have developed a world-first technology, C-Stem™, and with it we now have the first successful application of microtissue in 3D format that offers efficacy in preclinical models. The results speak for themselves, with a full recovery of behavior observed at 16 weeks post-transplant using the cryopreserved 3D cell format. We look forward to continuing to contribute our data to the scientific community as we move forward with our program,” said Kevin Alessandri, Chief Technology Officer, TreeFrog Therapeutics.
