STOCKHOLM — On January 25, 2023, Gith Noes-Holt at the University of Copenhagen successfully defended her dissertation “Development and investigation of AAV gene therapies and peptide inhibitors treating chronic pain”. The dissertation is based on four separate scientific manuscripts that report robust pain relief of both COZY01 (peptide therapy) and COZY02 (AAV treatment) in experimental models. The COZY pain program is run jointly by CombiGene and Zyneyro.
In the thesis, preclinical efficacy data from treatment with the peptide that constitutes CombiGenes and Zyneyro’s drug candidate COZY01 is presented for the first time. COZY01 is a new molecule with the same pain-relieving effect in different experimental pain models as a previous drug molecule version, but with some improved properties that make it better suited for drug development.
In the preclinical studies conducted with gene therapy treatment (COZY02), effective and long-lasting pain relief is also achieved, which is exactly what this treatment aims at.
“The data presented in Gith Noes-Holt’s dissertation are very positive. At CombiGene, we now look forward to continuing the exciting development of this promising program together with our colleagues at Zyneyro and expect to be able to take the peptide treatment COZY01 to clinical development within in a few years. The gene therapy COZY02 needs additional time to reach the same point in its development but is from a medical perspective at least as interesting as COZY01”, says Alvar Grönberg, Senior Program Director at CombiGene.
About the pain program COZY
The pain program COZY is developed to offer effective pain relief without the side effects that today’s treatments often give rise to. This is possible thanks to Zyneyro’s researchers having identified a new biological mechanism of action, which forms the basis for the two separate projects, which were also developed by Zyneyro’s researchers while still at University of Copenhagen. The program consists of two projects: a peptide treatment (short-term treatment) and a gene therapy treatment with potentially lifelong effect. The patient’s clinical picture and potentially other factors will guide the choice of treatment option, COZY01 or COZY02. The program is run jointly by CombiGene and Zyneyro and project costs and future revenues are shared equally between the two companies.
About Zyneyro ApS
Zyneyro was founded by a group of researchers from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen and a group of entrepreneurs from Marigold Innovation who together have extensive experience in all aspects of early drug development and entrepreneurship. The company’s researchers have worked for more than 15 years to understand the ability of the brain and nervous system to adapt to the influence of the surrounding environment. Zyneyro’s goal is to translate this knowledge of modulation of neuronal interaction into developing a number of drug candidates. The projects included in the collaboration with CombiGene relate to the treatment of pain. Zyneyro also intends to develop other drug candidates for indications other than pain.
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