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Biotech / Medical : Elan Corporation, plc (ELN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: All Mtn Ski who wrote (738)	12/1/1999 6:14:00 PM
From: William Partmann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10345

London, Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Researchers from both Pharmacia & Upjohn and Elan Corp. have identified a key protein thought to cause Alzheimer's disease which could speed the search for a new treatment, two new studies say. Those two companies join Amgen Inc. and SmithKline Beecham Plc in the rush to develop the first drug to stop the disease, a debilitating neurological disorder that afflicts four million Americans. The new studies, both to be published in the journal Nature tomorrow, describe a protein dubbed ``Asp2,' which turns naturally occurring compounds in the brain into the dense plaques called beta-amyloids that researchers believe cause the cognitive impairment of Alzheimer's. Drug companies now said they hope to find drugs that will stop Asp2, halting the chain of cellular events that appears to lead to disease. ``Anyone who has had an Alzheimer's program has been searching for these genes since 1988,' said Mark Gurney, the Pharmacia researcher who lead the study. ``This is such a tremendous breakthrough.' Though the role of the Asp2 protein had long been known, it was not until earlier this fall that researchers were able to identify the molecule. Scientists at Amgen were the first to isolate the Asp2 protein, a compound they called ``BACE,' and published an article in the journal Science in October. SmithKline researchers have also published a paper describing the protein. `Convincing' Research An editorial that accompanied the Pharmacia and Elan studies said the protein was a ``convincing' candidate for drug development. ``These exciting results could, perhaps, accelerate the development of drugs to stop or even reverse the neurogenerative process,' wrote Bart De Strooper of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology and Gerhard Konig of Bayer AG. Drugs now on the market, including Pfizer Inc.'s and Eisai Co.'s Aricept and Warner-Lambert Co.'s Cognex, only treat the symptoms of the disease. Though the Asp2 protein has become the leading target for drug development, challenges remain in fashioning a therapy that can block the effect of Asp2 and stall Alzheimer's. Because the dangerous proteins appear in the brain, companies will need to find a drug that can pass through the body's natural barrier between the bloodstream and the brain. Still, Gurney said he thought that drugs could be ready for testing in humans in three to five years. Drug companies have experience targeting molecules like Asp2, which is a kind of enzyme called a protease. Some HIV therapies, such as Merck & Co.'s Crixivan, also aim to disrupt proteases, and Gurney said Pharmacia hoped to leverage what it knows about HIV protease inhibitors to create drugs that attack Asp2. Alzheimer's Cause Researchers are still unsure about the cause of Alzheimer's disease. Much research, including the Pharmacia and Elan studies, has centered around a theory known as the ``amyloid hypothesis' that holds that eliminating the protein plaques that build up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's will cure the disease. In addition to targeting Asp2, Elan is also moving ahead with plans to test an Alzheimer's vaccine in humans. In mice genetically engineered to develop an Alzheimer's-like disease, the vaccine prevented the build-up of plaques. Dublin-based Elan's American depositary receipts rose 1 1/4 to close at 28 5/8 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares in Peapack, New Jersey-based Pharmacia fell 1 1/8 to close at 53 9/16 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Dec/01/1999 16:15