Oral ASD-005 is the First Disease-Modifying Treatment (DMT) for Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
There are currently no DMTs against MS. The ASDERA platform identified the mechanism underlying macrophages (MΦs) targeting myelin and a drug to prevent them from becoming activated.
The "MS-speecific antigen" that causes T-cells of MS patients to activate is myelin from probes taken by microglia that are exo- cytosed, because the microglial lysosomes do not have the capacity to degrade it. ASD-005 prevents microglial lysosomes from becoming overwhelmed by reducing endocytosis of myelin probes, by the same
MoA as in other neuro-degenerative diseases.