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FundaMental Pharma GmbH (FMP) is developing new types of drugs that act as ‘molecular spacers’ and disrupt a death signaling complex in the brain. Using this pharmacological strategy, FMP scientists succeeded in eliminating the toxic properties of the glutamate-controlled NMDA-type neurotransmitter receptor.

FMP has already identified first drug candidates that are currently in pre-clinical development and will be tested in humans within the next 2-3 years.

The discovery of an entirely new pharmacological principle ('interface targeting') raises hopes that previously untreatable neurodegenerative diseases in humans can be mitigated. Interface inhibitors open up new possibilities, both in terms of drug treatments and gene therapy approaches.

FMP was established in 2016 as a biotech start-up of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences (IZN) at Heidelberg University by Professor Hilmar Bading, Junior Professor Daniela Mauceri and Dr. Thomas Schulze.

Synendos is developing first-in-class inhibitors that modulate a newly identified drug target in the body’s endocannabinoid system, enabling restoration of endogenous cannabinoid levels that are suppressed in certain pathological conditions. The endocannabinoid system is a key neuromodulator system in the CNS involved in regulating various physiological and cognitive processes. Synendos’ newly developed selective endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitors (SERIs) act by increasing the levels of endogenous cannabinoids in a self-limiting mode of action, representing an innovative and potentially safer therapeutic approach to CNS disorders associated with anxiety, mood and stress-related disorders.