KineMed Presents at the 2nd Annual Drug Development for Neurodegenerative Diseases Conference
KineMed’s Innovative Measures in Cerebral Spinal Fluid Predict Drug Action in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Emeryville, CA - May 24, 2010
Scientists at KineMed, Inc., describe a new technique to track the effects of neurodegeneration on neuronal transport as measured by the kinetics of specific biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). These measures provide a powerful translational approach for developing novel therapies and can facilitate clinical trials for better treatments that modify the progression of diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and potentially Huntington’s disease.
Patrizia Fanara, Ph.D., KineMed’s Director of Neurodegenerative Diseases, presented KineMed’s latest preclinical and clinical data at the 2nd Annual Drug Development for Neurodegenerative Diseases Conference held May 19, 2010 in Boston, MA, in an invited lecture entitled: "Measuring Neuronal Transport in Cerebrospinal Fluid Using Stable Isotopes: Detecting Abnormal Microtubule Function and Predicting Drug Action in Short Term Studies of Neurodegenerative Diseases.” Dr. Fanara presented preliminary data from humans with PD and ALS suggesting that CSF-based in vivo measurement of microtubule-mediated transport reveals disease-related alteration, predicts therapeutic response in preclinical models and is translational to humans.
Many neurodegenerative diseases share altered microtubule function and neuronal axonal transport deficits which can be detected and quantified in the CSF of animals and humans using isotopic labeling of transported cargo proteins. With KineMed’s innovative labeling method, animals or humans drink heavy water, a safe, non-radioactive isotope of water. This heavy water diffuses throughout the body and becomes a building block for proteins in the brain that are newly synthesized during the period of labeling. By then isolating these labeled proteins from small samples of CSF and using an ultra-sensitive mass spectroscopic analysis, abnormal axonal transport can be detected. These abnormalities can be measured precisely and rapidly, over periods of days to weeks, this approach is symmetrical in both animals and humans, making this method truly translational.
Currently there is a paucity of effective therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases. One of the main impediments to bringing forward new treatments has been the inability to translate insights in animals to humans, as a result, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have had to “drive blind” in translating animal results to humans, making it extremely difficult to demonstrate drug efficacy in early clinical development. The ability to measure dynamic processes occurring in the brain by analyzing CSF is what makes this approach transformative to the drug development process.
Cyril De Colle, Ph.D., Vice President of Neuroscience at KineMed commented, “Neurodegenerative diseases present a clear unmet medical need. By the time a patient is diagnosed, a significant neuronal loss has already occurred, currently available therapeutic approaches are unable to stop or reverse the progression of the disease. KineMed’s approach is unprecedented in its ability to measure neuronal function in preclinical animal models and in humans. The information obtained by applying KineMed’s technology can dramatically improve the discovery and development of effective therapies for neurodegenerative disease.”
About KineMed, Inc.
KineMed, Inc. ("KineMed" or the "Company") is a drug discovery and development company employing its proprietary translational medicine technology (AquaTag™ and KineMarker™) to both identify active drug candidates preclinically and confirm their therapeutic activity and dose response in first-in-man studies. The Company is working to develop drugs both on its own and with pharmaceutical collaborators in therapeutic focus areas where it can demonstrate functional modulation of specific biological pathways that mediate disease.
KineMed's technology expedites the drug development process and provides real-time insight into conditions including metabolic disorders, cancer, fibrotic diseases, inflammation, and neurodegeneration.
For further information about KineMed, please visit: http://www.kinemed.com
Contact:
Brent Vaughan, Chief Business Officer, KineMed, Inc.
+1-510-655-6525 ext.110, bvaughan@kinemed.com
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