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Neurocrine unlocks possible treatment for neural disorders LOS ANGELES (February 16, 1998 6:01 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. Monday unveiled advances that may help treat stroke patients as well as those with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. In a paper to be published in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Neurocrine scientists said they had discovered a compound that could unlock a protein in the brain that could treat neural diseases, head trauma, osteoporosis, spinal injury and other ailments. The study focused on "insulin-like growth factors" (IGFs) which are essential for normal growth and development and protect brain cells from injury. IGFs are naturally produced in the body but are attached to receptors that render them inactive. Scientists in recent years have focused on increasing the level of IGFs in patients as a potential treatment for neural disorders, such as strokes, which do not have effective therapies. To date scientists have been unable to get IGFs past the blood-brain barrier since they are such large protein molecules. San Diego-based Neorocrine's approach is to develop a drug that could be taken orally to separate IGFs already present in the brain from the receptors, thereby unlocking the therapeutic effect of the IGFs. "People have wanted to use (IGFs) for these indications but they haven't been able to because you can't deliver it," Neurocrine President Gary Lyons said in an interview. "The significance of this work is we (will) have a pill that will increase these growth factors in the brain to slow or prevent, and even repair, nerve cell death for the first time for treatment in these kinds of diseases." Lyons said his company will now face the long process of clinical trials in order to get U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration approval for the drug. He said it could take up to two years, and possibly longer, before the drug would be available to patients. The company tested the compound on laboratory rats which had suffered strokes. The study slowed, or prevented, neuron cell death by up to 50 percent in rats compared with rats that were not treated. Since human brain cells take longer to die than rat brains cells the company hopes the effects of the treatment will be even more pronounced in humans. Over the long-term Lyons said increasing IGFs had regenerative effects on brain cells, which may offer potential treatment for patients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and spinal injury. By Mark Egan, Reuters Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service janet paterson 50-9 / sinemet-selegiline-prozac almonte-ontario-canada / [log in to unmask]