Bob Leet (and everyone else who is interested.)
First the disclaimer: This is not my own news release. I do not have
anything to do with GPI-1046. If you are angry about the study being
done PLEASE do not email me your complaints. I DO NOT work for the FDA.
If you have a complaint about the FDA, write to THEM, not me. The drug
is being developed by Guilford Pharmaceuticals of Baltimore. If you call
them (no, I don't have the phone number) they will be able to help with
your question. Thank you.
This is from the National Parkinson's Foundation WebSite at=20
http://www.parkinson.org/cure.html
POTENTIAL PARKINSON'S DISEASE CURE
Drug repairs brain's nerve cells, banishes most
disease symptoms in animal trials
Washington, DC - Parkinson=92s Disease may be reversible if a drug that
has worked in animal tests is as successful in humans. Results with the
compound will be presented at the American Chemical Society national
meeting in San Francisco on April 15, and were recently published in a
scientific journal.* The drug, developed by Guilford Pharmaceuticals of
Baltimore, represent a "tremendously exciting" advance, says Dr.
Jonathan
Pincus, M.D., a Georgetown University physician who is a Parkinson=92s
disease expert. Pincus says this is "the first time there has been a
compound that could get into the brain and stimulate nerve growth."=20
Parkinson=92s patients, who include boxer Muhammad Ali, develop tremors,
muscle weakness and shuffling gait as the nerve cells (neurons) in the
brain involved in motor control are gradually destroyed. More that 1.5
million Americans suffer from the disease, which ultimately renders
patients entirely rigid. The drug works by regenerating damaged neurons,
resulting in more than 90 percent recovery of normal behavior in animal
trials, says Dr. Gregory Hamilton, principal scientist in Guilford=92s
research
department. "What we=92re really excited about is that these compounds
don=92t just slow down progression of the disease." The animal trials
suggest
"we may be able to take patients who have begun to show the outward
manifestations of Parkinson=92s disease - the tremor, the motor-control
deficits - and push them back over the threshold into normal behavioral
function. We hope to reverse the disease and not simply slow it down."
Hamilton believes this reversibility is "completely unprecedented for an
orally active small molecule. There is nothing out there now that holds
the
promise of taking people with these sorts of tragic diseases and pushing
them back to some degree of normal function."=20
So far the compound, along with a number of similar analogs, has been
successfully tested in rats and mice, without turning up any problems
with
toxicity or side effects. They are now being examined in rhesus monkeys,
and Hamilton says human clinical trials might begin at the end of this
year
or early next year. The compounds, which can be administered orally, are
small molecules termed neuroimmunophilin ligands. They bind cellular
proteins known as immunophilins.=20
Intriguingly, the animal tests show these compounds can regenerate other
types of damaged nerves, without affecting normal, healthy neurons.
Hamilton says that means these drugs could potentially treat nerve
damage in conditions such as diabetes, carpal tunnel syndrome or Bell=92s
palsy. Further, the compounds "protect other types of neurons in the
brain
against toxic damage," Hamilton says. So Guilford is looking into their
impact on Alzheimer=92s disease, with "encouraging initial results." Othe=
r
potential targets include multiple sclerosis, traumatic head and spinal
cord
injuries and stroke. Hamilton adds that "it is our feeling at this point
that
almost any disease that involves chronic degeneration of nerves may be
affected in a positive manner by these compounds. They appear to have
an extremely general effect to promote regeneration of damaged nerves."=20
For more information contact:
American Chemical Society
Sophie Wilkinson, 202/872-4443
Kirk Monroe, 202/872-4445
--=20
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