Tetra Discovery Partners, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, today announced the company’s name change to Tetra Therapeutics. The name change reflects the company’s transition from a company focused on discovery research to one with multiple clinical-stage programs aimed at treating conditions that impair thought and human brain function.
“Tetra was founded in 2011 with the goal of developing a portfolio of therapeutics aimed at treating cognitive impairment and memory loss by improving how the brain processes and stores information,” said Mark Gurney, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Thanks to our investors, our partners, and the hard work of our team, we are today a clinical stage company with our first drug candidate, BPN14770, undergoing human testing in both Alzheimer’s disease and Fragile X Syndrome, the most common genetic form of autism.”
Since 2011 Tetra has raised $72 million through a public-private partnership model with the National Institutes of Health, the FRAXA Research Foundation for Fragile X Syndrome, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, and private and strategic investors.
BPN14770 was developed through a cooperative research agreement with the NIH Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Program. BPN14770 is designed to selectively modulate PDE4D, an enzyme that plays an important role in cognition and memory formation. Tetra is conducting the PICASSO AD Phase 2 study of BPN14770 in patients diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease at multiple research centers across the United States, and a Phase 2 study in patients with Fragile X Syndrome at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The company plans to announce top-line results of both trials in 2020. In December 2018, Tetra partnered with Shionogi & Co., Ltd. for the development of BPN14770 in Japan and other Asian countries. In addition, the company is developing multiple PET tracers to permit the imaging of PDE4 enzymes in brain.
