LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Data analytics company Ixico has entered into an agreement with NYU Langone Health to support a trial to determine if the immunosuppressant drug Sirolimus, approved by the FDA to prevent organ transplant rejection and for the treatment of a rare and progressive lung disease called lymphangioleiomyomatosis, is also able to slow the progression of disease in people with multiple system atrophy (MSA).

The AIM-traded firm said that, working with NYU Langone clinicians and researchers, the trial would help develop biomarkers for MSA from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

It described MSA as a condition of the central nervous system that causes gradual damage to nerve cells in the brain.

The project involves application of Ixico's existing MSA analysis solutions on retrospectively-collected MRI data from patients with MSA, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's disease, and progressive supranuclear palsy, as well as the joint development of a novel solution to analyse susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI).

"This collaboration will help to accelerate the quest for new treatments for multiple system atrophy by bringing together some of the leading researchers in the field from both academia and industry with the specific goal of developing new tools to better understand and characterise this debilitating disease," said Ixico's senior vice-president for science and innovation, Dr Robin Wolz.

At 1342 BST, shares in Ixico were up 1.06% at 89.94p.

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