ZyVersa Therapeutics and University of Miami Awarded a Grant From the Michael J. Fox Foundation to Determine if Inhibition of Microglial Inflammasome Activation With IC100 Blocks Neuroinflammation Driving Parkinson’s Disease Pathology

ZyVersa Therapeutics, Inc. (ZyVersa), a clinical-stage specialty biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class drugs for treatment of inflammatory and renal diseases, is honored to receive a grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to determine if IC 100 inhibition of inflammasomes and ASC specks blocks microglial-mediated inflammation in a PD model. The research will be conducted at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in the labs of IC 100 inventors, Drs. Robert W. Keane and Juan Pablo de Rivero Vaccari. Dr. Keane is Professor, Departments of Physiology and Biophysics, Neurological Surgery and Microbiology, Immunology, and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. de Rivero Vaccari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and a Distinguished Faculty Member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

“We are grateful to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for funding this research,” says Dr. Robert Keane. “This project will be the first to determine if α-synuclein preformed fibrils (PFF) and ASC specks trigger microglial inflammasome activation, causing them to shift to a detrimental phenotype and whether inflammasome inhibition with IC 100 prevents this shift by inhibiting ASC speck formation.”

“There is a significant unmet need for therapies that can delay or halt the progression of Parkinson’s disease, which impacts the lives of around one million people in the U.S. and more than six million globally,” stated Stephen C. Glover, ZyVersa’s Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman. “This research will help determine the potential of IC 100 (inflammasome ASC inhibitor) to block the damaging neuroinflammation that induces neural degeneration in Parkinson’s disease, similar to what we have seen in other CNS conditions. In animal models of multiple sclerosis, aging, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and stroke, IC 100 has been shown to interfere with CNS inflammasome signaling, resulting in improved histopathological and behavioral outcomes.”

“MJFF continues to fund therapeutic research to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease,” said Jessica Tome-Garcia, Ph.D., Associate Director of Research Programs at MJFF. “We are optimistic in funding ZyVersa’s research to further our understanding of neuroinflammation pathways and to see if the IC 100 inhibition of inflammasomes will block the gateway of activation.”