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New hope
for Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's
Novel compounds show early promise in
treatment of Parkinson's, Huntington's,
Alzheimer's
Success with human trials could lead to new
drugs to halt progression of
nerve-degenerative diseases
December 7, 2010--Investigators at Southern
Methodist University and The University of
Texas at Dallas have discovered a family of
small molecules that shows promise in
protecting brain cells against
nerve-degenerative diseases such as
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's,
which afflict millions.
Dallas-based startup EncephRx, Inc. was
granted the worldwide license to the jointly
owned compounds.
A
biotechnology and therapeutics company,
EncephRx will develop drug therapies based
on the new class of compounds as a
pharmaceutical for preventing nerve-cell
damage, delaying onset of degenerative nerve
disease and improving symptoms.
Treatments currently in use don't stop or
reverse degenerative nerve diseases, but
instead only alleviate symptoms, sometimes
with severe side effects. If proved
effective and nontoxic in humans, EncephRx's
small-molecule pharmaceuticals would be the
first therapeutic tools able to stop
affected brain cells from dying.
"Our compounds protect against
neurodegeneration in mice," said synthetic
organic chemistEdward
R. Biehl, the Identification
of novel 1,4-benzoxazine compounds that are
protective in tissue culture and in vivo
models of neurodegeneration,"
which appeared in the Journal of
Neuroscience Research. The National
Institutes of Health and the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency funded the
project.
The SMU and UT Dallas researchers developed
and tested more than 100 compounds for
neuroprotective efficacy and toxicity over
the course of four years before making the
discovery in 2007.
Interinstitutional partnership with EncephRx
SMU researchers will assist EncephRx in
optimizing the primary compound, and the UT
Dallas team will support testing and
analysis.
"While discovery of the compounds is a major
accomplishment, many hurdles remain," Biehl
said.
EncephRx is a university spinout formed to
develop and commercialize the compounds. Its
management team has proven success in all
facets of drug development and has developed
more than a dozen chemical compounds.
Aaron Heifetz, president and chief executive
officer of EncephRx, Inc., said, "We believe
this library of novel neuroprotective
compounds will prove an important step in
the effort to improve the health for
patients with neurodegenerative diseases,
such as Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's
disease and Parkinson's disease."
Chris Jeffers, managing partner of
FirstStage Bioventures, the parent company
of EncephRx, added, "FirstStage is very
excited about this technology and looks
forward to helping EncephRx quickly move
these compounds into the clinic."
