STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / ACCESSWIRE / March 7, 2024 / AlzeCure Pharma (STO:ALZCUR)(FRA:AC6) AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO: ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops small molecule drug candidates for CNS diseases, focusing on Alzheimer's disease and pain, today announced that the company's presentation at the Alzheimer's conference AD/PD 2024, regarding new preclinical data with its leading clinical drug candidate NeuroRestore ACD856, which is being developed with a focus on Alzheimer's disease, is now available on the company's website.
The abstract, titled ACD856 is a biased positive allosteric modulator of Trk-receptors - Enhances neurite outgrowth but do not affect pain signaling , was presented by Pontus Forsell, Head of Discovery and Research at AlzeCure, and includes new preclinical data with the lead clinical drug candidate ACD856, which is part of the NeuroRestore platform.
Data from the study show that ACD856 functions as a so-called biased PAM (positive allosteric modulator), i.e. that the substance potentiates certain signaling pathways but not others, which means that the substance can have potent effects and at the same time maintain a good safety profile. The results show that ACD856 can stimulate nerve cell growth, something that is important for communication between nerve cells. In addition, the substance improves memory and learning ability in preclinical models. In contrast, pain signaling is not affected, which indicates a selective stimulation of specific signaling pathways. ACD856 is a Trk-PAM and enhances BDNF and NGF signaling, which among other things play an important role in normal nerve cell function and maintaining brain health.
The substance is under clinical development as a symptom-relieving treatment for disease states where the cognitive ability is impaired, for example in Alzheimer's disease. New preclinical data also suggest that ACD856 has potential protective and disease-modifying effects.
"These new data with ACD856 show that the substance has growth-stimulating and memory-enhancing effects, without affecting pain signaling. This selective stimulatory effect bodes well for further clinical development," said Pontus Forsell.
"With the positive clinical results we previously obtained with ACD856, as well as additional new preclinical results supporting a disease-modifying effect, we have a promising drug candidate in the Alzheimer's field, which is gratifying considering the very large medical need," said AlzeCure Pharma's CEO Martin Jönsson.
The authors of the abstract are Pontus Forsell, Veronica Lidell, Azita Rasti, Gunnar Nordvall and Johan Sandin.
The presentation is available on AlzeCure's website: ( https://www.alzecurepharma.se/en/presentations-and-interviews/).
For more information, please contact
Martin Jönsson, CEO
Tel: +46 707 86 94 43
[email protected]
About AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ)
AlzeCure® is a Swedish pharmaceutical company that develops new innovative drug therapies for the treatment of severe diseases and conditions that affect the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease and pain - indications for which currently available treatment is very limited. The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market and is developing several parallel drug candidates based on three research platforms: NeuroRestore®, Alzstatin® and Painless.
NeuroRestore consists of two symptomatic drug candidates where the unique mechanism of action allows for multiple indications, including Alzheimer's disease, as well as cognitive disorders associated with traumatic brain injury, sleep apnea and Parkinson's disease, as well as for depression treatment. The Alzstatin platform focuses on developing disease-modifying and preventive drug candidates for early treatment of Alzheimer's disease and comprises two drug candidates. Painless is the company's research platform in the field of pain and contains two projects: ACD440, which is a drug candidate in the clinical development phase for the treatment of neuropathic pain, and TrkA-NAM, which targets severe pain in conditions such as osteoarthritis. AlzeCure aims to pursue its own projects through preclinical research and development through an early clinical phase, and is continually working on business development to find suitable outlicensing solutions, alternatively partnership, with other pharmaceutical companies.
FNCA Sweden AB is the company's Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.alzecurepharma.se.
About NeuroRestore
NeuroRestore is a platform of symptom-relieving drug candidates for disease states in which cognitive ability is impaired, e.g. Alzheimer's Disease, sleep apnea, traumatic brain injury and Parkinson's disease. NeuroRestore stimulates several important signaling pathways in the brain, which among other things leads to improved cognition. Preclinical studies with NeuroRestore have shown that AlzeCure's drug candidates enhance communication between the nerve cells and improve cognitive ability. The NeuroRestore substances are so called Trk-PAMs which stimulate specific signaling pathways in the central nervous system known as neurotrophins, the most well-known being NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) and BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor). The levels of NGF and BDNF are disturbed in several disease states and the signaling is reduced. The impaired function impairs communication between the synapses, i.e. the contact surfaces of the nerve endings, as well as reducing the possibility of survival for the nerve cells, which gives rise to the cognitive impairments. Neurotrophins play a crucial role for the function of nerve cells, and a disturbed function of BDNF has a strong genetic link to impaired cognitive ability in several different diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury and sleep disorders. There is also a link between BDNF signaling and depression, something that has been further strengthened in recent years. In addition to cognitive-enhancing effects, new preclinical data also show that NeuroRestore substances have a positive effect on mitochondrial function and cell survival, which could indicate potential disease-modifying effects. The leading drug candidate in the platform, ACD856, has recently completed clinical phase I studies and demonstrated positive effects there that support continued development of the program.
About Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting approximately 55 million people worldwide. Alzheimer's disease is a lethal disorder that also has a large impact on both relatives and the society. Today, preventive and disease modifying treatments are missing. The main risk factors to develop Alzheimer's are age and genetic causes. Even though the disease can start as early as between 40 and 65 years of age, it is most common after 65 years. Significant investments in Alzheimer research are being made because of the significant unmet medical need and the large cost of this disease for healthcare and society. The total global costs for dementia related diseases is estimated to about $1,300 billion globally in 2019. Given the lack of both effective symptomatic treatments and disease modifying treatments, the need for new effective therapies is acute.The few approved drugs on the market today have only a limited symptomatic effect and can produce dose limiting side effects. A disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease is estimated to reach more than $15 billion in annual sales. In Sweden, approximately 100,000 people suffer from Alzheimer's disease with a healthcare cost of about SEK 63 billion yearly, which is more than for cancer and cardiovascular diseases combined.
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Martin Jönsson CEO And Pontus Forsell Head Of Discovery And Research AlzeCure Pharma 2023
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AlzeCure presents new preclinical data with NeuroRestore ACD856 at leading Alzheimer's conference
SOURCE: AlzeCure Pharma