Partners expand joint research efforts

LIBERTYVILLE - Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced they have extended and expanded their joint research and development collaboration to develop a drug candidate for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, a genetically inherited cause of death of children under the age of 2. The collaboration is focused on optimizing and advancing into the clinic a novel small molecule within Paratek's library derived from the tetracycline class of compounds. The partners agreed to extend their collaboration for a third year and to roughly triple the resources dedicated to the program, with both partners increasing their investment in the effort.