ENACT Pharma, the Porton Down biopharmaceutical company, which is acquiring Leicester company De Montfort Biopharma (DMB), is to receive a major grant.

DMB has been awarded a £45,000 government grant to help improve the lives of thousands of people who suffer from degenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The grant has been awarded as part of the Small Business Service Smart Initiative, which encourages firms to come up with innovative ideas to boost business.

DMB specialises in yeast-based apoptosis inhibitors system (YAS), a unique technology which identifies the genes and proteins that cause both cancers and degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer's.

The understanding of the apoptosis process will allow the company to develop techniques and systems to help understand and ultimately treat various diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Chairman of DMB and an executive director of Enact Dr Jon Dickens said: "Each year, thousands of people are diagnosed with potentially fatal degenerative diseases.

"The development of our new system, called YAS, will help us identify those specific causative genes and proteins to help us better understand and treat such diseases.

"Although it is still very early days I believe the company could be in a position to begin initial clinical trials in the next three or four years.

"The Smart award will allow us to undertake a feasibility study of our system in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases and provide the data to allow us to proceed with a full programme."