Axial Therapeutics

Axial Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing gut-restricted, small-molecule therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company is leveraging its expertise in the gut-brain axis and unique drug development platform to advance novel treatments that could potentially transform the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Groundbreaking research from Dr. Sarkis Mazmanian's lab at Caltech has shown a biological connection between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) via the visceral-brain axis. The concept of the gut-brain axis stems from prior empirical evidence indicating that gastrointestinal issues early in life are present around the time of disease onset and/or diagnosis in patients with neurological disorders, and (2) 70% of the neurons in the peripheral nervous system reside in the gut and connect to the central nervous system through the vagus nerve, not the brain or spinal cord. Traditionally, any drug developed for neurological conditions must cross the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain, a challenging target. Axial Therapeutics’ approach is to develop a new class of drugs that provide localized, gut-restricted therapy, eliminating the need for systemic delivery of high doses of medication to the brain.