Pharmos CEO: Dexanabinol can help memory problems after heart surgery
22.11.2004 | 16:21
Shirley Yom Tov
Pharmos Corporation (Nasdaq:PARS, Nasdaq Europe: PHRM) investors can take some comfort from remarks that Haim Aviv made today, regarding the Phase II tests of dexanabinol, as a treatment against cognitive impairment following heart surgery.
Pharmos announced the results today, as it had promised. "The results were very good," Aviv told TheMarker. They showed that dexanabinol can alleviate memory problems after the trauma of cardiac surgery.
The trials were another milestone in the long slog to obtain FDA approval in the future. But Pharmos has to take dexanabinol through another whole phase of testing before it can even consider filing for FDA confirmation.
At this stage the company is analyzing the results of its tests before deciding how to proceed, Aviv said. And it will take years before the results of the next phase are in, if it reaches there at all.
The tests announced today checked dexanabinol's impact on cognition among cardiac patients who had bypass procedures. It began a year and a half ago at six medical centers in Israel, encompassing 202 patients.
One test involving several cognitive features found that the drug preserves cognitive processes made vulnerable in bypass surgery at a high level. But the results of a second set of tests were less clear. Aviv: "If all the tests done are seen together, you can say that dexanabinol shows an effect of preserving certain brain functions, which is excellent."
Pharmos notes that 800,000 people undergo heart surgery a year, of whom half a million are Americans. In 50% of the cases, patients suffer cognitive impairment eight days after surgery. Some suffer concentration difficulties and memory loss, caused by temporary lapses in blood supply to the brain as it passes through heart-lung machines.
In some cases the impairment is temporary, but in 30% it persists a year after surgery. These are the people whom the drug targets.
The cardiac application is a second use for dexanabinol, which is being developed primarily to help treat traumatic brain injury. Third-stage trials should be reported toward year-end.
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