Treeway: Paving the Way Towards a Cure for ALS

19 January 2022

In November 2021, Treeway, a Dutch biotechnology company, announced the start of a clinical stage phase 3 study for a new drug treatment for people with ALS in partnership with Ferrer, an international pharmaceutical company. At the moment, there is only one drug treatment certified to treat ALS in Europe, and this drug only increases the life expectancy by a few months.

Effective treatment of ALS therefore continues to be a significant unmet need: a need that Treeway wants to meet. Treeway is a patient-founded and patient-inspired company, founded by Bernard Muller and Robbert-Jan Stuit, who were both diagnosed with ALS.

‘Without our collaborations with academia and the (Health~Holland) PPP allowance we would not have been able to bring our drug to Phase 3 of clinical trials.’ - Inez de Greef, CEO of Treeway

Put the patients first

The company is committed to developing drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, so that every person who receives the diagnosis can lead an independent and fulfilled life. Treeway strongly feels that patient’s needs and experiences are important in developing drugs: They involve patients with ALS at all stages of the process. Treeway developed an oral drug that is user-friendly and highly accessible in terms of how the patient takes the drug and where he/she takes it.

All phases of clinical studies that took place concerning this drug were succesfull. Now the drug has been outlicensed to Ferrer. Ferrer has started with a large-scale clinical trial study to test the safety and efficacy in slowing down the disease progression in ALS patients. If successful, the drug will probably become the second drug treatment for ALS certified in Europe.

^{Back in 2014, Treeway studied the use of the oral drug a public-private partnership with the ALS Center of the University Medical Center in Utrecht (UMCU) and Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR). This project was one of the first public-private projects funded by Top Sector LSH via the PPP Allowance.}

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