South Korean startup LISCure Biosciences Inc. has announced a multi-year strategic R&D collaboration with Celltrion to identify novel microbiome therapy for Parkinson's disease.

Under the agreement, Celltrion and LISCure intend to develop oral live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) for Parkinson's disease. LISCure will receive research funding and is eligible to receive additional payments as the project progresses. LISCure will lead discovery of novel candidates and Celltrion will be responsible for further clinical and regulatory development.

Parkinson's disease is known to occur due to a low level of dopamine and abnormal aggregation of α-synuclein associated with gut dysbiosis, suggesting that microbiome-based therapies are potential therapeutic strategies for novel treatments of Parkinson's disease.

LISCure advances brain-target bacterial exosome technology for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease based on its platform technology. South Korea-based Celltrion intends to leverage the collaboration to expand its business strategy of microbiome therapy and strengthen neurodegenerative pipeline. 

The global market size of Parkinson's disease treatment was valued at $3.5 billion in 2019 and is anticipated to reach $11.5 billion in 2029 (CAGR=12.6%). The US Parkinson's disease market size was $1.8 billion in 2019 (market share = 51.5%).