What about Alzheimer's? Press release below on Gladstone collaboration. This looks like another one of those developments that will take a long time to bear fruit, but the stock already ticked up nicely this morning. Any help you can lend in understanding this announcement will be appreciated, as always...thanks!
Cambridge NeuroScience and Gladstone Institutes Collaborate to Develop Novel Approach to Alzheimer's Disease
Tuesday, December 31, 1996 8:26 AM
Newly Formed Subsidiary to Focus on apoE-based Drugs to Treat Alzheimer's
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc. and The Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco today announced a collaboration to develop treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD). This venture will combine the research and drug development capabilities of the two organizations to focus on novel pharmaceuticals designed to inhibit the activity of a form of apolipoprotein E (apoE), a molecule that has been widely linked to Alzheimer's disease.
"This collaboration will bring together Gladstone's extensive expertise in lipid metabolism and apoE structure and function with Cambridge NeuroScience's neurological drug discovery and development capability in what we hope will be a very productive partnership," said Elkan Gamzu, Ph.D., President and CEO of Cambridge NeuroScience.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cambridge NeuroScience has formed a new subsidiary called Cambridge NeuroScience Partners. Cambridge NeuroScience owns 80% of the subsidiary, The J. David Gladstone Institutes owns 15%, and The Regents of the University of California own the remaining 5%. Cambridge NeuroScience plans to manage the drug discovery and development program and pursuant to the agreement will fund $1.25 million per year for a total of three years of research to be conducted by scientists at The Gladstone Institute. Cambridge NeuroScience Partners has a three-year option to acquire an exclusive royalty-bearing licence to intellectual property developed in the field of research under the collaboration. Robert N. McBurney, Ph.D. will continue in his current role as Cambridge NeuroScience Senior Vice President -- Research and Chief Scientific Officer, and will also serve as president of Cambridge NeuroScience Partners.
Apolipoprotein E plays a central role in plasma lipoprotein metabolism and cholesterol transport. It also serves a lipid transport role in the nervous system. In humans, it exists in three isoforms: apoE2, apoE3 and apoE4, the expression of which is determined by three corresponding alleles on chromosome 19. Since 1993, numerous studies have established the apoE4 allele as a marker for predisposition to Alzheimer's disease. According to these studies, individuals carrying the apoE4 allele are more likely to develop AD than individuals carrying the other alleles.
"This venture brings together the complementary capabilities of basic research and pharmaceutical development," stated Robert Mahley, M.D., Ph.D., Director and President of The Gladstone Institutes. "Through this collaboration, we hope to explore whether our extensive research on apoE could result in treatments for Alzheimer's disease."
Dr. Gamzu added, "With CERESTAT(R) now in Phase III trials, our company is able to shift its research capabilities toward other opportunities for building a pipeline of proprietary drugs. This agreement with The J. David Gladstone Institutes presents a new avenue for discovering and developing potential neurological products. It is our second collaboration during the fourth quarter of 1996, following our recent announcement of a collaboration with Allergan to develop new treatments for glaucoma based on our ion channel technology platform. Although we consider the Gladstone agreement to be exciting, it is an early stage project and, as such, there can be no assurance if, or when, Alzheimer patients and their families will benefit from this research."
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects four million people in the United States. The disease destroys neurons in the brain, causing progressive dementia and eventually death. There are currently no effective therapies that reverse or prevent this disorder.
Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc. is a leading neuroscience company engaged in the discovery and development of proprietary pharmaceuticals focusing on nerve cell survival. The Company is developing a number of products to treat stroke, traumatic brain injury and chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies and other degenerative diseases.
The J. David Gladstone Institutes founded The Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in 1979 and a separate laboratory, The Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology in 1992. Both laboratories are affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco General Hospital. The Institute, presently staffed by approximately 120 scientists and research associates, conducts basic biomedical research into the cause and prevention of atherosclerosis, the condition that causes heart attacks. The Institute's discoveries have led to a better understanding of the mechanisms that control the level of cholesterol in the blood, the factors responsible for the delivery of cholesterol to the artery wall, and the molecular structure of the molecules called lipoproteins, that transport cholesterol throughout the body. Gladstone researchers have published several hundred papers in respected scientific and medical journals and have widely disseminated the findings of their research to fellow scientists and physicians. It has recently expanded its research mission by the addition of the Gladstone Molecular Neuroscience program, staffed by Lennart Mucke, M.D., Karl H. Weisgraber, Ph.D., Robert E. Pitas, Ph.D., and Robert W. Mahley, M.D., Ph.D. -- all of whom are part of the Cambridge NeuroScience-Gladstone collaboration.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the ability of the collaboration to develop commercially viable treatments and the rate at which competitors are able to develop treatments. SOURCE Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc.
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