Circular Genomics Inc, a precision neurology company developing circular RNA (circRNA)-based biomarkers, and PharmatrophiX Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced on Wednesday a strategic biomarker collaboration to apply Circular Genomics' blood-based circRNA profiling and analytics platform across PharmatrophiX's LM11A-31 programme, and potentially its broader neurodegeneration pipeline.

This collaboration is designed to add a blood-based biological intelligence layer to therapeutic development by evaluating disease biology, mechanism-aligned pathways, longitudinal pharmacodynamic signals and molecular patterns associated with treatment response. The initial focus is PharmatrophiX's planned open-label Alzheimer's disease biomarker study of LM11A-31, its first-in-class small molecule targeting the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR).

Circular Genomics says that it will use its research-use-only circRNA molecular profiling and analytics platform (CircPath) to characterise baseline molecular heterogeneity and track pathway-level changes over the course of treatment. The companies plan to integrate circRNA findings with available clinical, cognitive, imaging, proteomics, and established Alzheimer's biomarker data to generate insights around pharmacodynamic response and responder biology and to inform biomarker strategy for future later-stage studies.

The partners also intend to evaluate expansion of the collaboration into future Alzheimer's studies, an HIV-associated dementia programme, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and additional neurotrophin-receptor programmes, as mutually agreed. They plan to explore joint grant and non-dilutive funding opportunities to support translational biomarker research and cross-programme development.