Australian state Queensland has partnered with the University of Queensland to advance the development of a new drug candidate for the treatment of motor neurone disease (MND).

The university’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) is working in conjunction with local firm NuNerve to develop and manufacture the product for clinical trials scheduled to begin next year.

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Founded in 2005, QBI is the result of partnership between the Queensland government and the university. Queensland expects that the development of this drug will generate the first commercial return to the state from the institute.

NuNerve will use a biologics manufacturing facility run by Thermo Fisher for the drug development programme.

“The research showed that EphA4 was the key molecule involved in the guidance of motor neurons from the brain to targets in the spinal cord.”

This project will be the first for the facility, which was also established in 2005 with support from the government.

The drug candidate is being designed to block a protein called EphA4 and is expected to be useful for the treatment of multiple neurological diseases, including MND and spinal cord injury.

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University of Queensland vice-chancellor and president Peter Høj said: “The research showed that EphA4 was the key molecule involved in the guidance of motor neurons from the brain to targets in the spinal cord and was also responsible for impeding the recovery of motor neurons following injury.”

QBI professor Perry Bartlett said: “It is gratifying to see our discovery translated into a potential treatment for patients with MND.”

The university’s commercialisation arm UniQuest out-licensed the intellectual property of the drug candidate to NuNerve, which is focused on developing new technologies for neurological diseases.