Tag: biotech

Guten tag! MODAG

~ Simon ~ 12 Comments

 

Last week the German biotech firm MODAG announced that they had secure €12M in series A funding from various venture capital investors.

The company is going to use those funds to clinically develop their lead compound – Anle138b – in the neurodegenerative condition, Multiple Systems Atrophy (or MSA). 

In today’s post, we will discuss how Anle138b works, what Multiple Systems Atrophy is, and how this news could be good for the Parkinson’s community.

 

Stealth mode. Source: Hackernoon

Last week a small biotech firm in Germany came out of ‘stealth mode’.

What is stealth mode?

According to wikipedia, “in business, stealth mode is a company’s temporary state of secretiveness, usually undertaken to avoid alerting competitors to a pending product launch or other business initiative”.

After years of developing a novel drug, the German company emerged from stealth mode with €12M in series A funding, which will be used to clinically test their new treatment.

The company’s name is MODAG.

And what is MODAG planning to do now they are out of “stealth mode”?

They are planning to clinically test their lead compound which is called Anle138b.

The initial Phase I safety test will be conducted in healthy individuals, but then they will turn their attention to individuals with multiple systems atrophy.

What is Multiple System Atrophy?

Continue reading “Guten tag! MODAG” →

Voyager Therapeutics update

~ Simon ~ 8 Comments

This week a biotech company called Voyager Therapeutics provided an update regarding a gene therapy approach for people with severe Parkinson’s.

Gene therapy is an experimental therapeutic approach that involves inserting new DNA into cells using a virus. The introduced DNA can help a cell to produce proteins that it usually wouldn’t  produce, and this can help to alleviate the motor features of Parkinson’s.

In today’s post we will discuss what gene therapy is, what Voyager Therapeutics is trying to do, and outline what their update reported.

There are 4 phases to the clinical trial process of testing new treatment for use in humans:

  • Phase I determines if a treatment is safe in humans (this is conducted in an ‘open label’ manner)
  • Phase II ‘double blindly’ assesses in a small cohort of subjects if the treatment is effective
  • Phase III involves randomly and blindly testing the treatment in a very large cohort of patients
  • Phase IV (often called Post Marketing Surveillance Trials) are studies conducted after the treatment has been approved for clinical use

(‘Open label’ refers to both the investigator and the participants in a study knowing what treatment is being administered; while ‘double blind’ testing refers to studies in which the participants and the investigators do not know whether the participant is receiving the active treatment or an inert control treatment until the end of the study).

Based on the successful completion of their Phase I clinical trials for their gene therapy treatment called VY-AADC (Click here to read more about this), Boston-based biotech firm Voyager Therapeutics approached the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the goal of shifting their clinical trial programme into Phase II testing.

What is gene therapy?

Continue reading “Voyager Therapeutics update” →

Monthly Research Review – April 2018

~ Simon ~ Leave a comment

At the end of each month the SoPD writes a post which provides an overview of some of the major pieces of Parkinson’s-related research that were made available during April 2018.

The post is divided into five parts based on the type of research (Basic biology, disease mechanism, clinical research, other news, and a new feature: Review articles/videos). 

So, what happened during April 2018?

In world news:

  • April 4–15th – The 2018 Commonwealth Games were held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (New Zealand came 5th in the medals tally… not bragging, just saying).

Source: Vimeo

  • April 27th – Kim Jong-un crosses into South Korea to meet with President Moon Jae-in, becoming the first North Korean leader to cross the Demilitarised Zone since its creation in 1953. In initial small steps towards reconciliation, South Korea said it would remove loudspeakers that blare propaganda across the border, while North Korea said it would shift its clocks to align with its southern neighbour.

BFFs? Source: QZ

Source: Plus

  • And finally the city of Trier in Germany is already struggling to keep up with demand for ‘0-euro’ notes, bearing the face of its most famous son and communism’s creator Karl Marx. Sold for 3 euros each, the notes are part of celebrations for his 200th birthday (5th May 1818).

You get what you pay for. Source: DDR

In the world of Parkinson’s research, a great deal of new research and news was reported:

Continue reading “Monthly Research Review – April 2018” →

Reduce your RAGE as you AGE

~ Simon ~ 7 Comments

An Advanced Glycation Endproduct (or AGE) is a protein or lipid that has become glycated.

Glycation is a haphazard process that impairs the normal functioning of molecules. It occurs as a result of exposure to high amounts of sugar. These AGEs are present at above average levels in people with diabetes and various ageing-related disorders, including neurodegenerative conditions. AGEs have been shown to trigger signalling pathways within cells that are associated with both oxidative stress and inflammation, but also cell death.

RAGE (or receptor of AGEs) is a molecule in a cell membrane that becomes activated when it interacts with various AGEs. And this interaction mediates AGE-associated toxicity issues. Recently researchers found that that neurons carrying the Parkinson’s associated LRRK2 G2019S genetic variant are more sensitive to AGEs than neurons without the genetic variant. 

In today’s post we will look at what AGE and RAGE are, review the new LRRK2 research, and discuss how blocking RAGE could represent a future therapeutic approach for treating Parkinson’s.

The wonder of ageing. Source: Club-cleo

NOTE: Be warned, the reading of this post may get a bit confusing. We are going to be discussing ageing (as in the body getting old) as well as AGEing (the haphazard process processing of glycation). For better clarification, lower caps ‘age’ will refer to getting old, while capitalised ‘AGE’ will deal with that glycation process. I hope this helps.

Ageing means different things to different people.

For some people ageing means more years to add to your life and less activity. For others it means more medication and less hair. More wrinkles and less independence; more arthritis and less dignity; More candles, and less respect from that unruly younger generation; More… what’s that word I’m thinking of? (forgetfulness)… and what were we actually talking about?

Wisdom is supposed to come with age, but as the comedian/entertainer George Carlin once said “Age is a hell of a price to pay for wisdom”. I have to say though, that if I had ever met Mr Carlin, I would have suggested to him that I’m feeling rather ripped off!

George Carlin. Source: Thethornycroftdiatribe

Whether we like it or not, from the moment you are born, ageing is an inevitable part of our life. But this has not stopped some adventurous scientific souls from trying to understand the process, and even try to alter it in an attempt to help humans live longer.

Regardless of whether you agree with the idea of humans living longer than their specified use-by-date, some of this ageing-related research could have tremendous benefits for neurodegenerative conditions, like Parkinson’s.

What do we know about the biology of ageing?

Continue reading “Reduce your RAGE as you AGE” →

EDITORIAL: That Pfizer news

~ Simon ~ 22 Comments

On Saturday 7th January, 2018, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies – Pfizer – announced that it was abandoning research efforts focused on finding new drugs for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 

Naturally, the Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s communities reacted with disappointment to the news, viewing it as a demoralising tragedy. And there was genuine concern that other pharmaceutical companies would follow suit in the wake of this decision.

Those fears, however, are unfounded.

In today’s post we will look at some of the reasons underlying Pfizer’s decision, why our approach to failure is wrong, why Pfizer will definitely be back, and what the Parkinson’s community can do about it all.

Photo by David Kovalenko on Unsplash

1. Our approach to failure

I am currently reading “Black box thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success“. It is a really interesting book by journalist Matthew Syed that investigates how we approach to failure.

Matthew Syed. Source: Amazon

In the first chapter of his book, Syed makes comparisons between the way the aviation industry and the medical profession approach failure, pointing out the processes that follow situations when a disasters occur. In the aviation industry, when any event occurs there is a major investigative process that starts with the recovery of the black boxes. The aviation industry uses this system of investigation to learn from every single incident. It makes the information available to all and this helps with re-thinking everything from cockpit ergonomics and design to air traffic controller procedures. Even the airline companies are keen to be seen to be involved in this process of investigation. Failure, while unfortunate, is not shameful or stigmatising, but rather embraced and enlightening. 

In addition, Syed points out that when an airline pilot sits down in his/her cockpit, their neck is also on the line if something goes wrong. Thus, it is in their best interest that the flight should be successful. And this is another reason why the aviation industry takes the reporting of failure so seriously. Everyone benefits from learning from previous situations. And all of this comes together with the observation that 2017 was the safest year on record for flying (based on deaths/flights – Source).

Continue reading “EDITORIAL: That Pfizer news” →

2017 – Year in Review: A good vintage

~ Simon ~ 13 Comments

At the end of each year, it is a useful practise to review the triumphs (and failures) of the past 12 months. It is an exercise of putting everything into perspective. 

2017 has been an incredible year for Parkinson’s research.

And while I appreciate that statements like that will not bring much comfort to those living with the condition, it is still important to consider and appreciate what has been achieved over the last 12 months.

In this post, we will try to provide a summary of the Parkinson’s-related research that has taken place in 2017 (Be warned: this is a VERY long post!)

The number of research reports and clinical trial studies per year since 1817

As everyone in the Parkinson’s community is aware, in 2017 we were observing the 200th anniversary of the first description of the condition by James Parkinson (1817). But what a lot of people fail to appreciate is how little research was actually done on the condition during the first 180 years of that period.

The graphs above highlight the number of Parkinson’s-related research reports published (top graph) and the number of clinical study reports published (bottom graph) during each of the last 200 years (according to the online research search engine Pubmed – as determined by searching for the term “Parkinson’s“).

PLEASE NOTE, however, that of the approximately 97,000 “Parkinson’s“-related research reports published during the last 200 years, just under 74,000 of them have been published in the last 20 years.

That means that 3/4 of all the published research on Parkinson’s has been conducted in just the last 2 decades.

And a huge chunk of that (almost 10% – 7321 publications) has been done in 2017 only.

So what happened in 2017? Continue reading “2017 – Year in Review: A good vintage” →

A virtual reality for Parkinson’s: Keapstone

~ Simon ~ 3 Comments

parkinsons_virtual_biotech_graphic

In 2017, Parkinson’s UK – the largest charitable funder of Parkinson’s disease research in Europe – took a bold step forward in their efforts to find novel therapies.

In addition to funding a wide range of small and large academic research projects and supporting clinical trials, they have also decided to set up ‘virtual biotech’ companies – providing focused efforts to develop new drugs for Parkinson’s, targeting very specific therapeutic areas.

In today’s post we will look at the science behind their first virtual biotech company: Keapstone.

Virtual_Reality_Oculus_Rift

A virtual world of bioscience. Source: Cast-Pharma

I have previously discussed the fantastic Parkinson’s-related research being conducted at Sheffield University (Click here to read that post). Particularly at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) which was opened in 2010 by Her Majesty The Queen. It is the first European Institute purpose-built and dedicated to basic and clinical research into Motor Neuron Disease as well as other neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

The research being conducted at the SITraN has given rise to multiple lines of research following up interesting drug candidates which are gradually being taken to the clinic for various conditions, including Parkinson’s.

It’s all very impressive.

And apparently I’m not the only one who thought it was impressive.

Continue reading “A virtual reality for Parkinson’s: Keapstone” →

The Acorda’s Tozadenant Phase III clinical trials

~ Simon ~ 6 Comments

The biotech company Acorda Therapeutics Inc. yesterday announced that it was halting new recruitment for the phase III program of its drug Tozadenant (an oral adenosine A2a receptor antagonist).

In addition, participants currently enrolled in the trial will now have their blood monitoring conducted on a weekly basis. 

The initial report looks really bad (tragically five people have died), but does this tragic news mean that the drug should be disregarded?

In todays post, we will look at what adenosine A2a receptor antagonists are, how they may help with Parkinson’s, and discuss what has happened with this particular trial.

Dr Ron Cohen, CEO of Acorda. Source: EndpointNews

Founded in 1995, Acorda Therapeutics Ltd is a biotechnology company that is focused on developing therapies that restore function and improve the lives of people with neurological disorders, particularly Parkinson’s disease.

Earlier this year, they had positive results in their phase III clinical trial of Inbrija (formerly known as CVT-301 – Click here to read a previous post about this). They have subsequently filed a New Drug Application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make this inhalable form of L-dopa available in the clinic, but the application has been delayed due to manufacturing concerns from the FDA (Click here to read more about this). These issues should be solvable – the company and the FDA are working together on these matters – and the product will hopefully be available in the new year.

So what was the news yesterday?

Acorda Therapeutics has another experimental product going through the clinical trial process for Parkinson’s disease.

It’s called Tozadenant.

Source: Focusbio

Tozadenant is an oral adenosine A2a receptor antagonist (and yes, we’ll discuss what all that means in a moment).

Yesterday Acorda Therapeutics Inc announced that they have halted new recruitment for their phase III clinical program. In addition the company is increasing the frequency of blood cell count monitoring (from monthly to weekly) for participants already enrolled in the company’s Phase 3 program of Tozadenant for Parkinson’s disease.

The Company took this action due to reports of cases of agranulocytosis.

Continue reading “The Acorda’s Tozadenant Phase III clinical trials” →

Editorial: Orphan drug tax credit

~ Simon ~ 4 Comments

Here at the SoPD we are politically neutral.

That said, I will report on events that directly impact the world of Parkinson’s disease research (without adding too much in the way of personal opinions). 

Recent legislation introduced in the US congress could have major implications for subsets of the Parkinson’s disease community, as well as a host of additional medical conditions. The legislation is seeking to remove the orphan drug tax credit.

In today’s post, we will have a look at what the orphan drug tax credit is, and why its removal could be damaging for Parkinson’s.

capitol-hill-parking

The United States Capitol. Source: SpotHeroBlog

On November 2, House Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to reform the U.S. tax code. The complicated tax system probably needs a serious clean up, but the legislation will also terminate something called the orphan drug tax credit.

What is the orphan drug tax credit?

Continue reading “Editorial: Orphan drug tax credit” →

Voyager Therapeutics: phase Ib clinical trial results

~ Simon ~ 15 Comments

 

This week a biotech company called Voyager Therapeutics announced the results of their ongoing phase Ib clinical trial. The trial is investigating a gene therapy approach for people with severe Parkinson’s disease.

Gene therapy is a technique that involves inserting new DNA into a cell using a virus. The DNA can help the cell to produce beneficial proteins that go on help to alleviate the motor features of Parkinson’s disease.

In today’s post we will discuss gene therapy, review the new results and consider what they mean for the Parkinson’s community.

Source: Joshworth

On 25th August 2012, the Voyager 1 space craft became the first human-made object to exit our solar system.

After 35 years and 11 billion miles of travel, this explorer has finally left the heliosphere (which encompasses our solar system) and it has crossed into the a region of space called the heliosheath – the boundary area that separates our solar system from interstellar space. Next stop on the journey of Voyager 1 will be the Oort cloud, which it will reach in approximately 300 years and it will take the tiny craft about 30,000 years to pass through it.

Where is Voyager 1? Source: Tampabay

Where is Voyager actually going? Well, eventually it will pass within 1 light year of a star called AC +79 3888 (also known as Gliese 445), which lies 17.6 light-years from Earth. It will achieve this goal on a Tuesday afternoon in 40,000 years time.

Gliese 445 (circled). Source: Wikipedia

Remarkably, the Gliese 445 star itself is actually coming towards us. Rather rapidly as well. It is approaching with a current velocity of 119 km/sec – nearly 7 times as fast as Voyager 1 is travelling towards it (the current speed of the craft is 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h).

Interesting, but what does any of that have to do with Parkinson’s disease?

Well closer to home, another ‘Voyager’ is also ‘going boldly where no man has gone before’ (sort of).

Continue reading “Voyager Therapeutics: phase Ib clinical trial results” →