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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Biomaven who wrote (2646)	1/22/2001 9:29:55 PM
From: Mark Bong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

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

To: Biomaven who wrote (2646)	1/22/2001 9:59:26 PM
From: jj_	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 52153

Know any companies at the lead in "Genetically engineered" Stems cells Tissue Transplantation Genetically Engineered Stem Cells May Be Key The scientists at Johns Hopkins University have "engineered" human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to form a new type of cell that not only holds the potential to develop into different tissues but also overcomes great drawbacks that have limited the use of hPSCs for disease therapy. In 1998, these same researchers showed that hPSCs - humans' earliest, undifferentiated "full potential" cells - could develop into all the basic types of embryonic tissues that make up human beings. The new cells, called embryoid body derived cells (EBDs), "will be the workhorses that carry out the new tissue-transplant therapies," said John D. Gearhart, PhD, the Hopkins team leader. "The first applications of these cells will likely be in Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), Type I diabetes, stroke, and Parkinson's disease," said Gearhart. Researchers in other Hopkins labs have already begun testing EBDs on animal models of Lou Gehrig's and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as on animal spinal injuries. EBDs reproduce readily and are easily maintained, Gearhart said, and thus eliminate the need to use fetal tissues each time as a source - a step that should quell many of the political and ethical concerns that swirl around stem cell studies. "We thought from the first that problems would arise using hPSCs to make replacement tissues," said molecular biologist Michael Shamblott, PhD. The early-stage stem cells are both difficult and slow to grow. "More important," said Shamblott, "there's a risk of tumors. If you're not very careful when coaxing these early cells to differentiate - to form nerve cells and the like - you risk contaminating the newly differentiated cells with the stem cells. Injected into the body, stem cells can produce tumors. The EBDs bypass all this." EBDs readily divide for up to 70 generations, producing millions of cells without any apparent chromosomal abnormalities typical of tumor cells. No tumors appeared in three cancer-prone test mice injected with the new cells. Moreover, EBD cells appear to accept "foreign" genes readily - a necessity, Shamblott said, for scientists to produce large quantities of differentiated "replacement" cells for human transplants. The researchers began their work with embryonic germ cells, a type of hPSC drawn from discarded fetal tissue. In culture, the germ cells grow into a small mass of cells called an embryoid body. After teasing the embryoid bodies apart using gentle enzymes, the scientists cultured the separated cells in one of six "very simple growth environments." Sample cells from each environment - now called embryoid body derived cells - were grown again, this time in culture solutions that favored growth of specific cell lines, such as nerve cells, and allowed to divide undisturbed for many generations. The researchers quickly recognized EBD cells' ability to grow readily, but hadn't a clear idea what they'd produced. To their surprise, tests to identify molecules characteristic of specific cell types revealed markers from at least four basic mammalian cell lines, including those that give rise to neural (nerve) cells, muscle, and blood. The researchers believe they have made a sort of biologic raw material which, when placed within specific environments in the body, will be prodded to differentiate into specific tissues.