AstronauTx has exercised its option under a research collaboration with Saniona to secure exclusive worldwide rights to ATX0926, a small-molecule development candidate targeting a novel ion channel implicated in neurological disease.
The UK biotech said that it will now advance ATX0926 into IND-enabling studies, taking responsibility for its further preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory approval and commercialisation.
The programme originated from a 2023 collaboration between AstronauTx and Saniona, which combined Saniona’s proprietary IonBase ion-channel discovery platform with AstronauTx’s expertise in sleep biology and neuroscience.
The collaboration was established to identify potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
AstronauTx’s approach centres on modifying sleep architecture, particularly slow-wave sleep, as a potential method of influencing biological processes associated with neurodegeneration.
The company’s research suggests that slow oscillations during deep sleep may support glymphatic flow — the brain’s fluid-based waste-clearance system — providing a potential route for reducing the accumulation of neurotoxic proteins.
The programme shows how target-specific ion-channel discovery can be combined with disease biology and measurable translational endpoints.
AstronauTx said in its statement that its development strategy incorporates biomarkers including EEG-derived sleep architecture measures, cognitive performance and glymphatic flow.
Under the option exercise, AstronauTx will issue Series A shares worth $5m to Saniona.
Saniona is also eligible for up to $172m in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, alongside tiered royalties on net sales of products arising from the collaboration.
"AstronauTx's decision to exercise its option is a strong endorsement of both the scientific progress achieved through our collaboration and Saniona's ion channel discovery platform," said Thomas Feldthus, CEO of Saniona.
It demonstrates our ability to generate and advance high-quality development candidates together with world-class partners while enabling us to retain meaningful long-term value through equity ownership, milestones and royalties.
"We are excited to see ATX0926 advance toward clinical development."
"Exercising this option reflects the strength of the science that has come out of our collaboration with Saniona and our conviction in this target and its mechanism of promoting glymphatic flow as a potential new approach to treating neurological disease," added Jane Rhodes, CEO of AstronauTx.
As we prepare to enter clinical development with our lead programme, ATX0926 further strengthens our pipeline and supports our strategy of targeting sleep architecture to influence causal biological processes that drive neurological disease.
