CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and ROSTOCK, Germany and BERLIN, March 9, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)
- Rostock International Parkinson's Disease (ROPAD) Study aims to characterize the genetics of PD to establish a better understanding of the disease progression, diagnosis, and treatment
- Significant milestone of 10,000 participants reached
- With over 120 study sites around the world, CENTOGENE is leading the largest corresponding study for genetics in Parkinson’s disease ever performed
Centogene N.V. (Nasdaq: CNTG), a commercial-stage company focused on rare diseases that transforms real-world clinical and genetic data into actionable information for patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies, announced today a significant milestone in its Rostock International Parkinson's Disease (ROPAD) Study, with the recruitment and genetic testing of 10,000 participants. Including more than 120 study sites around the world, CENTOGENE is leading the largest study of its kind – a global observational study focusing on the role of genetics in Parkinson's disease (PD).
Prof. Peter Bauer, Chief Genomic Officer at CENTOGENE, said, "We are pleased to have reached such a pivotal point in our Parkinson’s disease study. All too often clinical studies do not provide adequate ethnic diversity, and we are proud that this study has included over 10,000 participants from around the world. Going forward, we hope to use these deep insights into Parkinson's disease genetics to diagnose patients at the earliest point possible and contribute to targeted Parkinson’s treatments.”
In 2018, CENTOGENE entered into a strategic collaboration with Denali Therapeutics for the targeted global identification and recruitment of Parkinson’s disease patients with mutations in the LRRK2 gene. Mutations in LRRK2 are one of the most commonly known genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease. Patients enrolled in ROPAD with an LRRK2 mutation may be eligible for participation in future therapeutic clinical studies, including with Denali Therapeutics, which is developing a small molecule, LRRK2 inhibitor for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in collaboration with Biogen.
About ROPAD
The Rostock International Parkinson's Disease Study (ROPAD) is a global epidemiological study focusing on the role of genetics in Parkinson's disease (PD). The major goal of the study is to characterize the genetics of PD to establish a better understanding of the disease etiology, diagnosis, and severity.
CENTOGENE utilizes CentoCard®, the Company’s proprietary, CE-marked dried blood spot collection kit in combination with state-of-the-art sequencing technologies to screen for mutations in LRRK2 and other PD-associated genes. Throughout this study, 10,000 participants from around the world have been tested over a two-year period.
Patients with mutations in PD genes are offered further clinical assessment in a supplementary study, ‘Lübeck International Parkinson’s Disease Project (LIPAD),’ conducted at the University of Lübeck where a detailed phenotyping of participants will be performed. Participants may be offered participation in future interventional clinical studies, including with study partner Denali Therapeutics, which is developing a small molecule, LRRK2 inhibitor for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in collaboration with Biogen.
The ROPAD Study protocol and initial findings were recently published in the journal Movement Disorders.
About CENTOGENE
CENTOGENE engages in diagnosis and research around rare diseases transforming real-world clinical and genetic data into actionable information for patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies. Our goal is to bring rationality to treatment decisions and to accelerate the development of new orphan drugs by using our extensive rare disease knowledge, including epidemiological and clinical data, as well as innovative biomarkers. CENTOGENE has developed a global proprietary rare disease platform based on our real-world data repository with over 3.6 billion weighted data points from approximately 595,000 patients representing over 120 different countries as of September 30, 2020.
The Company’s platform includes epidemiologic, phenotypic, and genetic data that reflects a global population, and also a biobank of these patients’ blood samples. CENTOGENE believes this represents the only platform that comprehensively analyzes multi-level data to improve the understanding of rare hereditary diseases, which can aid in the identification of patients and improve our pharmaceutical partners’ ability to bring orphan drugs to the market. As of September 30, 2020, the Company collaborated with over 40 pharmaceutical partners covering over 45 different rare diseases.
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Media Contact:
CENTOGENE
Ben Legg
Corporate Communications
press@centogene.com
FTI Consulting
Bridie Lawlor O’Boyle
+1.917.929.5684
bridie.lawlor@fticonsulting.com