Introducing 'Spark', a new public-private project to develop a drug to fight cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the Retos-Colaboración 2014 call under the ‘National Program for Research Aimed at the Challenges of Society’, has given the Spark project a grant of €500,000. This project was conceived of as a way to develop a new neuroprotective drug to treat cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia.

The project was launched by a public-private consortia led by Iproteos, a biotechnology firm based at the Barcelona Science Park, that also included biopharmaceutical company Ascil-Biopharm, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona (IRB Barcelona), the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Spark aims to carry out the first stage of preclinical development on neuroprotective drug IPR019, which is first in class and would prevent, stop and reverse cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia and other mental disorders.

IPR019 belongs to the family of compounds referred to as “third generation”, developed and patented by Iproteos, and its therapeutic activity is based on blocking a protein in the brain that is associated with cognitive impairment. It is a peptide derivative that can cross the blood-brain barrier –the protective wall of the brain that most drugs on the market are unable to pass through- that has been proven effective as a cognitive enhancer in in vivo trials.

The first human trials for this drug are expected in 2016.

Teresa Tarragó, CEO of Iproteos and IRB Barcelona researcher, explains that “IPR09 acts through a yet unexplored novel mechanism of action in the treatment of schizophrenia” and that it “represents a major advance in the management of this disease.”