AlzeCure’s Abstract on ACD856’s Anti-inflammatory Effects to be Presented at a Leading Alzheimer’s Conference
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / ACCESSWIRE / October 1, 2024 / AlzeCure Pharma (STO:ALZCUR)(FRA:AC6) AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO:ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops candidate drugs for diseases affecting the nervous system, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and pain, today announced that an abstract with preclinical data on NeuroRestore ACD856 demonstrating its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects has been accepted for presentation at the annual Alzheimer’s conference CTAD, Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease, which this year is being held in Madrid, Spain, on October 29 – November 1.
The abstract, titled Preclinical evidence for anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of NeuroRestore ACD856, a Trk-PAM in clinical development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease , will be presented at the conference by Dr. Cristina Parrado-Fernández, Senior Scientist at AlzeCure. The other authors are Veronica Lidell, Azita Rasti, Maria Backlund, Gunnar Nordvall, Martin Jönsson, Johan Sandin and Pontus Forsell from AlzeCure Pharma, and Ruchi Gera, Sumonto Mitra and Prof. Maria Eriksdotter from Karolinska Institutet.
The presentation includes new preclinical results with ACD856, the lead clinical drug candidate within the NeuroRestore platform. The data show that the substance shows both anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating properties, something that has been demonstrated after treatment in both aged animals and in Alzheimer’s models. This indicates potentially disease-modifying properties of this class of molecules.
“The results show that with ACD856 we can also target inflammatory processes that are part of the disease process in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, which further strengthens the potential for disease-modifying effects of the substance,” said Cristina Parrado-Fernández, Senior Scientist at AlzeCure Pharma.
Previous preclinical studies have shown that AlzeCure’s drug candidates in the NeuroRestore platform strengthen communication between nerve cells and improve cognitive ability, including learning and memory functions. Preclinical results from AlzeCure also show neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and disease-modifying effects in various models with these so-called Trk-PAM substances. The unique pharmacological mechanism of NeuroRestore also enables several indications, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, but also depression. ACD856 is a first-in-class drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease and is now being prepared for upcoming phase II clinical studies in patients.
“These new promising results further strengthen the potential for disease-modifying effects with ACD856, and we will continue these studies in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet. To be recognized to present these data at the CTAD conference is a validation of our data and the NeuroRestore platform, and shows that our project is at the forefront of research,” said Martin Jönsson, CEO of AlzeCure Pharma.
The abstract and the poster will be available on AlzeCure’s website after the presentation ( https://www.alzecurepharma.se/en/presentations-and-interviews ).
For more information, please contact
Martin Jönsson, CEO
Tel: +46 707 86 94 43
martin.jonsson@alzecurepharma.com
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. 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 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, and the number is estimated to triple in the next 30 years if nothing is done. 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 are estimated to about 1,300 billion USD globally in 2019. Given the lack of both effective symptomatic treatments and disease modifying treatments, including preventive treaments, the need for new effective therapies is acute. The few approved drugs on the European 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.
