Peter, PRCS Alzheimer's drug
Peter, here is some more detailed information on the PRCS Alzheimer's drug. It sounds promising, but of course, it is still very early, and their drug candidate will not enter into the clinic until this quarter at the earliest.
From the Press Release-(PRCS) also reviewed the results of recent preclinical studies of Apan, the Company's drug candidate in development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The hallmark of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of plaque-like deposits in the brain that are composed largely of a peptide called beta-amyloid. A large body of clinical, biochemical and genetic evidence has led to the theory that when beta-amyloid molecules aggregate they become toxic to nerve cells, and that this toxicity leads to the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease. Preclincal experiments have shown that Apan specifically inhibits the aggregation of beta-amyloid and its associated nerve cell toxicity. Alzheimer's disease, and the associated accumulation of beta-amyloid in the brain, is often thought of as a defect in the ability to clear beta-amyloid from the brain into the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Both humans and transgenic mice with Alzheimer's disease plaques show increased levels of beta-amyloid in the brain and decreased levels in the CSF. Transgenic mice treated with Apan show significant increases in beta-amyloid levels in the CSF, suggesting that Apan is able to mobilize beta-amyloid in the brain and facilitate its clearance.
Commenting on these results, John H. Growdon, M.D., a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital stated, ``The significant increase in beta-amyloid levels in the CSF of the transgenic mice treated with Apan suggests that this compound could alter the course of Alzheimer's disease by a novel mechanism.''
The Company confirmed the submission to the FDA in December 2000 of an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for Apan and its expectation of initiating a phase I clinical trial during the first quarter of 2001 |
