Treeway, a biotech company in the Netherlands with a mission to develop a cure for ALS, recently announced promising results of its phase I trial of its lead drug, TW001. TW001 is an oral formulation of edaravone. Radicava®, the most recently FDA approved drug to treat ALS, is an intravenous version of edaravone. The study showed that TW001 was well tolerated and stable, while improving bioavailability compared to Radicava.

“An oral formulation of Radicava will be pivotal in providing a more convenient means to take the medication in comparison to keeping to a drug infusion schedule,” stated Dr. Lucie Bruijn, chief scientist of The ALS Association.

Based on the promising phase 1 trial results, Treeway is preparing for an upcoming phase III study that will test a larger population of people living with ALS to understand both safety and whether the drug impacts disease progression. The company’s goal is to move as quickly as possible to bring TW001 to the ALS community.

“In collaboration with ALS patients and investigators, we have accomplished this important milestone,” said Inez de Greef, CEO of Treeway. “We are grateful to The ALS Association for their continuous support on our drug development and discovery programs.”

Treeway was founded in 2012 by two entrepreneurs who are living with ALS, Bernard Muller and Robbert Jan Stuit. They also founded The ALS Association-funded Project MinE, whose aim is to sequence and analyze the DNA of 22,500 people to discover novel ALS genes.

“We are hopeful for the future of TW001 and will keep the ALS community up-to-date with any additional information,” Bruijn added

Read Treeway’s press release here.

For more information about TW001, visit here and here.

For more information about Project MinE, visit https://www.projectmine.com/.