Main > NEUROLOGY. > Alzheimer's Disease > Treatment > Botanical Extract Compound > Co.: USA. S. (Early Stage Dev.) > Literature Description

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At a MEDI session on neurodegenerative diseases, vice president of research at Co., told attendees about his team s search for therapeutic approaches to Alzheimer s disease.

Alzheimer s is the most common neurodegenerative disease, currently afflicting about 4.5 million people in the U.S., he said. Current therapies are considered palliative in that they typically can slow progression of the disease by months but cannot halt the inevitable decline of Alzheimer s patients. He and coworkers believe they have identified a compound that may represent a new kind of Alzheimer s treatment.

The disease s early presymptomatic stage is characterized by the development in the brain of deposits formed from Aß42, a long form of amyloid-ß peptide (Aß). "Many of the mutations known to be associated with inherited forms of Alzheimer s disease specifically increase the level of this form of Aß," he said. Aß42 is also known to be more prone to misfold and aggregate than shorter forms of Aß and to be more toxic to cells in its aggregated form. Researchers are thus trying to find ways to lower levels of "long Aß."

He and coworkers licensed a botanical extract from the Licensor, and isolated specific compounds associated with Aß-lowering activity. One of these, SP1, is the group s lead compound for development.

SP1 potently and selectively lowers levels of Aß42 in cellular assays and has promising activity in animals. It is structurally distinct from and orders of magnitude more potent than previously known Aß-lowering agents. "Alas, we are not quite yet ready to show the world what this structure is," he said.




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