Mireca, a spin-out of Institute for Ophthalmic Research in Tübingen, receives prestigious Award from FFB

Mireca Medicines GmbH, Tübingen, is a preclinical stage company pioneering the development of proprietary cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-analogs and drug delivery technologies to treat diseases caused by a dysregulation of cGMP, affecting protein kinase G (PKG). Mireca’s lead program focusses on the inhibition of PKG for neuroprotection and has obtained positive preclinical data for inherited retinal diseases (IRD) like Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis.

Prof. Francois Paquet-Durand, Team Leader at the Department of Ophthalmology, Institute for Ophthalmic Research in Tübingen, laid the scientific foundation of Mireca’s activities by discovering the cGMP-induced photoreceptor cell death mechanism and leading the research of corrective cGMP-analogs in drug delivery formulations that are suitable for chronic ocular treatment.

The spin-out has now received a near 1 Million USD Translational Research Acceleration Program (TRAP) Award from the US-based Foundation Fighting Blindness. These funds will accelerate the preclinical development of Mireca’s proprietary lead program (MM238) towards the clinic. MM238 is a novel, PKG-inhibiting cGMP-analog in a tailored PLGA-based formulation, designed to stop the degeneration of photoreceptor cells, thus preserving the structure and function of the retina.