Saturday, October 21, 2006

Research suggests a toke a day may keep Alzheimer's away
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Evidence suggests that people who regularly smoked marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s rarely develop Alzheimer's disease, said Wenk, adding that researchers are eager to develop a drug with the anti-inflammatory properties of marijuana, but without the drug's psychoactive effects.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, have found that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Their study, recently published in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, revealed that THC inhibits an enzyme called AChE—which acts as a “molecular chaperone” to facilitate the formation of amyloid plaque, a substance that forms in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
“While we are certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs,” noted Scripps in their press release, “these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities.”
Worldwide, the cost of treating the nearly 28 million people with Alzheimer’s and dementia is $248 billion, according to the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center and the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Instituet. Although there are now 27 drugs in development for Alzheimer’s, there is no effective treatment to cure, modify, or prevent the neurodegeneration caused by the disease—at least, not yet.
Athenagen, a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in South San Francisco, California, has two drugs in development to treat Alzheimer’s. Last month the company raised $50 million in a Series B round, led by Sanderling Ventures of San Mateo, California. “Sanderling is interested in building companies that have big portfolios and can be real, stand-alone, important companies,” Sanderling Managing Director Robert McNeil explains. “Athenagen has that potential.”
The company has two products for treating Alzheimer’s in the pipeline. One is a tablet that improves cognition and enhances memory by targeting a pathway stimulated by nicotine. Early-stage trials in humans are underway.
Athenagen is also advancing its proprietary beta-secretase inhibitor drug, ATG-Z1. “This could be the first compound to actually slow down or even halt the progression of Alzheimer’s,” says Athenagen CEO Scott Harkonen. The drug blocks formation of a protein called A-beta which is toxic to nerve cells. It is also essential to formation of plaques found in Alzheimer’s patients.
The need for a drug that can modify Alzheimer’s is so acute that all 20 of the world’s top pharma companies are targeting the disease. If all goes well, Athenagen’s drug could be available in five years. “The market for a drug like this is akin to the statin drugs that have made such an impact on heart disease,” Dr. Harkonen asserts. “It’s of that magnitude.”

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