About IRLAB

Rooted in Nobel Prize-winning research, IRLAB has grown rapidly to become recognized and respected as a world-leader in understanding the complex neuropharmacology of CNS disorders and especially Parkinson’s disease. We have a well-defined, strategically focused R&D pipeline of powerful new treatments targeting the various stages of Parkinson’s as they worsen over time throughout the patient’s journey of neurodegeneration. Having a full range of effective disease management options for Parkinson’s patients is regarded as essential by both the medical and patient communities – and at the same time potentially a blockbuster pharmaceutical business.

Research and development within Parkinson’s

Parkinson’s is the most common primary neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease, and the number of affected persons is expected to rise as the world’s population is ageing. At present, nearly nine million people have Parkinson’s. By 2040, this figure is expected to double.

To meet this challenge, IRLAB has developed a unique, disruptive technology platform called ISP to discover new CNS drug candidates. Leveraging ISP is a major competitive advantage of IRLAB and increases both the pace of drug candidate discovery and probability of success. Based on advanced machine learning techniques, ISP first interrogates our extensive proprietary CNS pharmacology database and that informs our chemists on the optimal molecular design of potential drug candidates with the desired symptom correcting pharmacology or therapeutic effect.

Over the last eight years, the ISP technology platform has gained significant validation, discovering three drug candidates currently in clinical development, from Phase I-III, and two additional drug candidates pending Phase I development next year.

Five drug candidates with blockbuster potential

The company’s current clinical candidates, mesdopetam (IRL790) and pirepemat (IRL752), both of which have successfully gone through Phase I safety and Phase IIa efficacy proof-of-concept studies, are now in Phase IIb trials. These drug candidates are intended to treat patients with some of the most challenging symptoms associated with Parkinson’s – troublesome dyskinesias (PD-LIDs), psychosis (PD-P) and symptoms linked to cognitive decline, such as impaired balance and an increased risk of falls (PD-Falls). In addition, we are developing two preclinical drug candidates to address PD-cognitive impairment (IRL942) and PD-apathy (IRL757), earlier yet still debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s etiology. IRL1117 is aimed at offering a once-daily oral treatment for the hallmark symptoms of Parkinson’s without inducing the troublesome complications caused by today’s mainstay anti-Parkinson’s levodopa treatments. 

It is anticipated that compelling clinical efficacy of these drug candidates for Parkinson’s patients will make them attractive targets for the pharmaceutical industry and in turn yield substantial value for shareholders.

Growing market

The population of elderly is rapidly growing worldwide and, subsequently, it is expected that diseases triggered by an aging brain such as CNS diseases, e.g. Parkinson’s disease, will increase dramatically. Nearly 13 million people are expected to have developed Parkinson’s disease by 2040, which is more than a two-fold increase since 2015. There is hence an increasingly growing need for new effective treatments, which drives both the development rate of drug candidates as well as the willingness to pay.

Headquartered and founded in Sweden

IRLAB’s share (IRLAB A) has been traded on Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market since September 2020, a move from Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market where the company was listed since February 2017. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.