Company’s goal: Therapies to clear proteins causing Parkinson’s

Booster Therapeutics, a Berlin-based biotech company, has launched with $15 million in seed funding to develop therapies aimed at enhancing the body’s ability to clear defective proteins that contribute to Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. The company has created an extensive library of compounds to develop small molecule therapies that activate the proteasome, the cell's mechanism for disposing of damaged proteins. Unlike conventional treatments that target single proteins, Booster's approach aims for widespread degradation of harmful proteins without needing ubiquitin tagging. Co-founder Diogo Feleciano highlighted the potential for these therapies to address multiple disease-causing proteins, offering a promising solution for complex neurodegenerative diseases. The company's technology platform, DGRADX, combines automated screening and computational tools to identify potential therapeutic compounds, with potential applications in both monotherapy and combination treatments.