2006 - Alzheimer's Treatments Reviewed by NeuroInvestment
CARDIFF, CA, -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 12/05/2005 --
NeuroInvestment today announced the release of its December issue, the biannual review of treatments under development for Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's is the most devastating age-related disorder, robbing patients of their capacity to remember, relate, and function, and at its extreme, stripping them of their personhood.
It constitutes a societal time-bomb, for while the annual cost of caring for Alzheimer's patients is around $100 billion in the US, the graying of the population means that the number of Alzheimer's patients in the US alone will increase from 4-5 million to as many as 14 million by 2050.
The social and fiscal burdens will expand proportionally, and intolerably.
Assuming that our culture is not about to embark upon systematic euthanasia as means of culling the human herd, unless the search for an effective therapy bears fruit, younger generations will eventually find themselves shackled to the burden of warehousing millions of their demented elders.
While the eventual goal is to stop the Alzheimer's disease process entirely, it is not necessary to cure Alzheimer's in order to substantially limit the scale of this societal disaster.
Simply slowing the process down, while maximizing compensatory capacities, would permit many to escape the more severe form of Alzheimer's, they would no longer outlive their cognitive wherewithal.
One estimate is that a five year extension of functional life would mean a 50% decrease in the prevalence of Alzheimer's.
There are key questions regarding Alzheimer's still in the process of being answered.
The amyloid plaques once thought to be responsible for damage to the brain now appear to be aftermath, the most lethal period in beta-amyloid's 'lifespan' is when it is still soluble and can seed itself around the brain.
The relationship of amyloid pathology to the other major protein dysfunction in Alzheimer's, tau, is still not fully understood, nor are the upstream events that lead to these toxic events.
Genetic factors, oxidative stress, and a breakdown in waste clearance mechanisms all play a role.
Complicating the design of therapies is that anything approaching complete elimination of toxic factors might undercut essential neural functions, ideal equilibrium is going to be an elusive target.
The current armamentarium of cholinesterase inhibitors and Namenda, even when given in combination, provides only modest, time-limited benefit to a minority of patients, and does not even approximate a solution to the dementia quandary.
Among the development programs covered in the review are:
1) Vaccine and antibody programs from Elan/Wyeth, Lilly, Rinat Neuroscience, Bristol-Myers, Alzhyme, Novartis, Acumen/Merck, and AC Immune
2) Secretase inhibitors from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Elan, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Zapaq, and Torrey Pines Therapeutics, as well as some NSAIDs
3) Anti-cholesterol approaches via various statins and ACAT-inhibitors (e.g. Pfizer, Merck/Schering)
4) RNA silencing from Alnylam, Merck, Novartis
5) Amyloid aggregation-inhibitors from Neurochem, Proteotech
6) Cholinergic anti-amyloid approaches from Axonyx, Targacept, Debiopharm, and Ester Neurosciences
7) Antioxidants from Prana, D-Pharm MindSet, Vernalis/Cita Neuro
8) Tau therapies from Lundbeck, Abbott, and Sirenade
9) Excitotoxicity inhibition from Forest, Merz, NeuroMolecular, Medivation
10) Amyloid clearance agents from Torrey Pines Therapeutics, Eisai, Wyeth, Pfizer
11) AMPA modulators from Cortex (AMEX: COR), Servier, Lilly, and GlaxoSmithKline, which combine synaptic enhancing, neuroprotective, and neuroregenerative effects
12) Neuroprotective programs of various stripes from Ceregene, Johnson & Johnson, Allon Therapeutics, Memory Pharma, Amgen, Toyama, Ebewe, ENKAM, Neuventis
13) Memory enhancing compounds from Memory Pharmaceuticals, Helicon, Abbott, Roche, Targacept, and ExonHit
14) Cholesterol inhibiting compounds including the statins and ACAT-inhibitors
15) Hormone/cell-cycling as targeted by Voyager Pharmaceuticals
16) Antiinflammatory compounds including NSAIDs, analogs from Myriad Genetics and NicOx
17) Neurogenesis-enhancement from Neuronascent, Corcept, BrainCells, NeuroNova
This Alzheimer's review completes a two-part series on Memory Disorders which began with the November review of therapies for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
One-year corporate subscription is $1250, email or hardcopy.
Add $150 for dual delivery, add $40 for airmail delivery outside North America.
Three month trial subscription is US$350. Individual investor subscriptions are $450 for one year, $150 for a three month trial.
NI Research is the leading publisher of independent research on the neuropharmaceutical/therapeutic industry.
NI Research has published NeuroInvestment since 1995, the Private CNS Company Review since 2003, and provides inlicensing consultation and custom research for large and small pharmaceutical firms. NI Research has developed an unmatched information base regarding both publicly and privately held neuro-oriented companies.
Contact:
NI Research
P.O. Box 1028
Cardiff CA 92007
603.379.8800
E-mail: Email Contact
SOURCE: NeuroInvestment
marketwire.com |
