(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jun. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Novel Alzheimer’s disease (AD) medication developed by Megabiowood research team is planning for phase I clinical trial in next year. The novel medication is appraised to have high commercial possibilities as its aspects which shows non-cytotoxicity and superior absorbency that solves not only the symptoms but also the cause of disease which accelerates the in-depth of AD. It has foresight to prevail the limits of existing AD medications with the success of clinical trial.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that mostly affects people above the age of 65. AD is characterized by the gradual deterioration of the brain cells, and cognitive and functional impairment, which are manifested as dementia(memory loss), impaired reasoning, repetitive movements, agitation, anxiety, depression, insomnia and other various symptoms. Due to increasing life expectancy and the growing elderly population, AD has become one of the most common chronic illnesses among the elderly in recent years. It is estimated that more than 17 million people suffer from AD in 10 covered major markets.
The current knowledge of the molecules and processes that are involved in AD pathology is very limited. As a result, it is challenging to accurately diagnose and stage AD severity, and to develop therapies that possess meaningful clinical efficacy. The therapies available for AD manage symptoms; however, they cannot stop or slow the progression of the disease.
Because efforts to improve symptomatic treatment have proven challenging, companies are looking for molecules that are capable of interfering with AD pathology before the symptoms arise.
Currently, a handful of anti-dementia drugs are used. But most of them just temporarily alleviate symptoms. Recently, there has been a series of failures of global candidate drugs that have been developed based on the conventional treatment mechanism. Due to the failures, now is a good time to develop a drug based on the root cause of dementia.
Megabiowood, CNS dedicated research bio-firm developed a drug candidate for dementia with excellent drug-like properties and efficacy through fruitful collaboration with experts.
The ability of candidate drug(KDS2010) to restore neuronal spike probabilities compared to pre-existing drug.
The drug candidate (KDS2010) was based on the previous findings that reactive astrocytes, commonly found in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients, generate and secrete GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, causing memory impairment and cognitive impairment (Nature Medicine, 2014).
This synthetic drug developed by Megabiowood is a substance that can reduce the amount of abnormally produced GABA. It is a drug candidate that can dramatically improve memory and cognitive impairment of Alzheimer’s disease patients.
* GABA: One of the transmitters of the central nervous system of mammals with strong inhibitory effect on neuronal excitability.
Researchers dissolved the drug in water and fed the mice that are genetically modified to mimic Alzheimer’s disease. They conducted Morris water maze and passive avoidance experiments to check the mice’s memory. They found that cognitive functions of the Alzheimer’s mice returned to the normal state. Furthermore, long-term administration of a low dose (1mg/kg) of the drug led to a long-lasting improvement in cognitive functions, even up to 4 weeks of treatment. This is in great contrast to the existing drugs, whose early efficacy is excellent but long-term administration has low efficacy. Furthermore, according to the results of verifying ADME/Tox, the drug candidate effectively transferred to the brain through oral intake and had drug-like properties without biotoxicity and any side effects on other nervous system.
This drug candidate provides a fundamental treatment option for cognitive function disorders through an entirely new treatment regime. So far it has been tested for long-term efficacy and toxicity. Currently, non-clinical trials are conducted at the GLP level. This could turn out to be a next-generation global drug for Alzheimer’s disease through immediate clinical trials.
The candidate shows reversible regulation of MAO-B depending on GABA concentration or cellular environment while other existing medications show irreversible and permanent inhibition of MAO-B. The stability of substance is able to explain by this aspect difference.
Currently, we were on pre-clinical trial stage using monkeys for preparing next phase of clinical trials. Clinical trial is planed next year on AD patients.
Sang Wook Kim
MEGABIOWOOD
070-4866-6458
sangwook.kim@wellcan.co.kr
Source: Megabiowood
