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FROM: Drug Week October 26, 2001 - November 2, 2001 SECTION: EXPANDED REPORTING; Pg. 20 HEADLINE: NEUROLOGY: Neuroimmunophilin Ligand Program Returned To Guilford Pharmaceuticals " Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (GLFD), announced that Amgen (AMGN) has elected to terminate its agreement with Guilford and return all rights to the neuroimmunophilin ligand technology it licensed from Guilford in 1997. Neuroimmunophilin ligands are a novel class of drugs developed by Guilford that may have the ability to cause nerve growth and repair. In preclinical studies conducted in research laboratories, neuroimmunophilin ligands have demonstrated promising results suggesting they may have utility in a broad range of clinical indications, including Parkinson disease, age-related cognitive impairment, and spinal cord injury. "We've enjoyed a very productive relationship with Amgen," said Dr. Craig R. Smith, Guilford. "Over the course of our collaboration, we've learned a great deal about our neuroimmunophilin ligands and are committed to the further development and commercialization of this technology." In July 2001, Guilford reported preliminary results of the first clinical evaluation of a neuroimmunophilin ligand, NIL-A, in the treatment of Parkinson disease. The clinical trial, which was conducted by Amgen, was a Phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of NIL-A in patients with mild to moderate Parkinson disease. The results from this study suggested that NIL-A was well tolerated at doses up to 1000 mg taken orally four times a day for six months, but did not produce a substantial reversal of the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease. "The Phase II clinical trial of NIL-A was the first clinical evaluation of our neuroimmunophilin ligand technology, and was an important exploratory study," continued Smith. "Although NIL-A did not meet its primary endpoint and produce a significant reversal in the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease, we were encouraged that NIL-A was well tolerated. Our evaluation of the secondary endpoints in the trial suggested there may have been some benefit for certain of the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease. However, these results are preliminary and will require additional study to confirm their significance. Furthermore, we've obtained encouraging results with neuroimmunophilin ligands in a variety of additional preclinical disease models, suggesting this technology may have application in a number of other clinical indications." In 1990, scientists led by Dr. Solomon Snyder, director of the department of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins Medical School and a cofounder of Guilford, discovered that certain immunosuppressive drugs were able to induce nerve growth in both test tube and animal experiments. After licensing the rights to this technology, Guilford scientists designed a series of novel, proprietary drugs, called neuroimmunophilin ligands, which possessed potent neurotrophic activity but which were not immunosuppressive. Since this initial discovery, Guilford's neuroimmunophilin ligands have demonstrated neurotrophic activity in a number of animal models of Parkinson disease and other acute and chronic neurological diseases and conditions. Results from some of these studies have been published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA and Nature Medicine. Several different laboratories have now confirmed the neurotrophic activity of neuroimmunophilin ligands in models of Parkinson disease and peripheral nerve damage." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn