Convelo Therapeutics, Inc. announced that it has launched from stealth mode with a mission to discover and develop a new class of medicines that regenerate the protective myelin coating around nerve cells that is lost in a wide array of neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Seminal scientific discoveries made in the laboratories of Drs. Paul Tesar and Drew Adams at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine provide the foundation of Convelo’s discovery platform. Their most recent work, published online today in the journals Nature and Nature Methods, identified a central molecular pathway for stimulating the regeneration of new myelinating cells in the central nervous system.
“The discovery of agents that can restore myelin represents a new therapeutic paradigm for patients with neurodegenerative diseases characterized by loss of myelin,” said Derrick Rossi, Ph.D., who has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Convelo Therapeutics. Prior to joining Convelo, Dr. Rossi was faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. He also served as an investigator at Boston Children’s Hospital, where his lab was focused on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Dr. Rossi has a history of entrepreneurship as co-founder of Moderna Therapeutics, Magenta Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics.
“In the case of MS, the most prevalent chronic neurological disease in young adults, patients have been limited to immunomodulatory drugs. These can be effective in slowing the progression of disease but do not halt it. Our thesis is that therapeutics that act directly within the central nervous system to stimulate myelin regeneration may be what is needed to stop or reverse the progressive nature of these types of diseases altogether. I am thrilled to lead the team at Convelo as we translate these remarkable findings of Drs. Tesar and Adams into tangible, life-altering therapies for people living with demyelinating