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Biotech / Medical : ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc (ACAD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mopgcw who wrote (3)	6/23/2004 8:57:22 PM
From: mopgcw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 588

ACADIA Reports on Second Innovative Approach to Drug Treatment of Psychosis; Novel Drug Candidates Address Cognitive Deficits of Psychotic Patients 2001-11-13 11:01 (New York) SAN DIEGO, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals today presented data on its proprietary small molecules that offer the unique potential to treat all symptoms of schizophrenia including cognitive deficits. The presentation was made by ACADIA scientists at the Society for Neuroscience 31st Annual Meeting, the largest global meeting focused on the latest advancements in neuroscience research. The company reported preclinical data from one of its novel chemical leads, AC 90222, that uniquely acts as both a muscarinic m1 subtype selective agonist and a dopamine D2 subtype selective antagonist. This prototypical m1 agonist/D2 antagonist displays a preclinical spectrum of in vivo behavioral effects indicative of antipsychotic activity. It blocks apomorphine suppression of prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response and reduces spontaneous and drug-induced locomotor activity as expected of compounds with D2 antagonist activity. However, unlike classical D2 antagonists, AC 90222 does not induce catalepsy nor does it disrupt cognitive performance when administered alone. In fact, this compound improves spatial memory in mice. "This combination of central nervous system activities in one class of molecules is unprecedented," said Herbert Meltzer, M.D., Bixler Professor Psychiatry and Pharmacology and Director of the Division of Psychopharmacology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and a founding member of ACADIA's Clinical Advisory Board. "The importance of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenic patients has been neglected in the recent past because of the mistaken belief that relief of psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations should be the major focus of drug treatment. It is now known that deficits in specific types of cognition, rather than positive symptoms, are the most important factor in the ability of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder to work and function optimally in the community. Because of this, the cutting edge in the development of novel drug treatments for schizophrenia target is the alleviation of cognitive impairment. The m1 agonist/D2 antagonist drugs being developed by ACADIA has promise as a strategy which improves cognition and achieves an antipsychotic action, while avoiding extrapyramidal side effects. This is an extremely attractive combination which hopefully will produce drugs that may be tested in the clinic in the near future." A common property of all existing antipsychotic drugs is their ability to antagonize the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine at its D2 receptor subtype. While drugs active at this receptor appear to control the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, including delusions and hallucinations, these drugs are ineffective in treating and may in fact worsen the negative systems associated with this disease, such as flattening of affect and cognitive dulling. Furthermore, use of existing drugs with D2 antagonist properties is frequently associated with impairment of motor function. Based on predominant distribution of m1 receptors in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, areas involved in higher order cognitive functions, drugs with m1 agonist properties are expected to enhance cognitive functions. Therefore, a drug with m1 agonist and D2 antagonist properties should be effective at treating the positive symptoms while at the same time reducing the cognitive dulling and perhaps ameliorating other negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. "We currently are fine tuning these molecules to optimize both their m1 agonist and D2 antagonist properties," said Mark R. Brann, Ph.D., ACADIA's President and Chief Scientific Officer. "AC 90222 and similar compounds may represent an entirely new class of antipsychotic drugs, ones with the clinically superior properties of commonly used antipsychotics, but without dose-limiting side effects. Given the unique profile of these compounds we also may be able to treat other disorders that present with cognitive impairment and psychosis, such as the senile psychosis that may accompany Alzheimer's disease. In addition, this program is complementary to our recently announced 5-HT2A inverse agonist development program that also is designed to treat psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia." ACADIA is a drug discovery and development company that efficiently identifies target-specific small molecule drug candidates using its proprietary chemical-genomics platform. ACADIA's uniquely productive platform integrates genomics, chemistry and biology to rapidly identify and validate drug targets and discover novel chemistries specific to those targets. ACADIA has successfully applied its chemical-genomics platform to generate a broad discovery pipeline that includes 16 programs directed at major diseases, including psychosis, chronic pain, glaucoma and dementia. ACADIA's corporate headquarters as well as its genomics and biological research facilities are located in San Diego, California and its chemistry research facilities are located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Contacts: In U.S. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Robert E. Davis, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Drug Discovery and Development +1-858-558-2871 In Denmark Bo-Ragnar Tolf, Ph.D., VP, Chemistry and Managing Director of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals A/S + 45 4329-3000