Hørsholm, September 17, 2025 – Contera Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biotech company pioneering innovative treatments for neurological disorders, has announced positive topline results in a Phase 1b pharmacoscintigraphic study evaluating CP-012. CP-012 is an investigational drug designed to address the disabling motor complications of nocturnal immobility and early morning akinesia in Parkinson’s disease. Given the profound impact of these symptoms on quality of life and daily functioning, there is an urgent need for more effective therapeutic options.
“The Phase 1b trial showed that CP-012 was safe and well tolerated in people living with Parkinson’s disease. Importantly, the pharmacokinetic and scintigraphy data showed that CP-012 delivers levodopa in a delayed manner, ensuring release during the early morning hours when symptoms are most challenging. These encouraging results provide strong support for advancing CP-012 into further clinical development, bringing us closer to offering a much-needed new treatment option for people affected by Parkinson’s disease.” Says Anne Birk Østerskov, MD, CMO of Contera Pharma.
Thomas Sager, CEO of Contera Pharma, adds: “We are very encouraged by these Phase 1b results, which provide the clinical evidence that the unique release profile works as intended in people living with Parkinson’s disease and the data give us a strong belief that we have a very promising new treatment option. Strategically, the Phase 1b study outcome represents an important step forward for Contera Pharma, providing the data needed to advance CP-012 into the next stage of clinical development, with the goal of improving the quality of life for people living with Parkinson’s disease.”
About the study
The study is an exploratory pharmacoscintigraphic single centre, open-label, crossover study in up to 15 patients with Parkinson’s disease. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the absorption (PK) of levodopa and carbidopa from two, novel delayed pulsatile release CP-012 formulations and correlate with scintigraphic time and site of release. The study is conducted in collaboration with BDD Pharma, and executed at their clinical site in Glasgow, Scotland.
About morning akinesia
Mobility problems and recurring tremor early in the morning before the first intake of levodopa are early events in the development of motor complications associated with sustained oral levodopa treatment of PD. Recent surveys have indicated that early morning akinesia (or morning OFF episodes) are present in around 60% of PD patients across all disease stages and that a similar number of patients are affected by nocturnal immobility. Importantly, in most patients experiencing early morning akinesia, this is associated with non-motor symptoms such as anxiety, depression, pain, and urinary urge. Taken together, nocturnal immobility and morning akinesia are significant contributors to impaired sleep quality and reduced quality of life for patients. There are currently no effective, reliable, and easy to use treatment options available to satisfactorily address these problems.
About Contera Pharma A/S
Contera Pharma A/S is focused on developing novel treatments for people suffering from neurological disorders. Contera Pharma’s science is based on a precision medicine approach integrating external and internal data sources to support rational selection of human disease-validated drug discovery targets to identify novel pipeline opportunities within neurological disorders. CP-012 is an investigational drug that is not approved for use by any regulatory authorities. Contera Pharma has full ownership and holds global rights to the CP-012 program (Contera Pharma holds a license to BDD Pharma’s formulation technology, OralogiK). Contera Pharma is based in Hørsholm, Denmark.
For more information, visit www.conterapharma.com.
