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Neurodegenerative disease specialist and
Huntington disease organization continue collaboration to develop new
therapies
Marseille, September 21, 2006 - Trophos SA, a
biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of
drugs for neurodegenerative diseases and CHDI, Inc. (CHDI), a non-profit
organization that supports translational research aimed at finding
treatments that prevent or slow the progression of Huntington disease
(HD), announced today the extension of a strategic collaboration to
discover and develop drugs for Huntington disease.
The development program builds upon a successful
collaboration to identify compounds that confer a survival benefit on
primary striatal neurons subjected to Huntington-mediated toxicity in
assays enabled by the proprietary screening platform developed at Trophos.
Loss of striatal neurons is considered an important factor in the
pathogenesis of Huntington disease. During the collaboration, Trophos and
CHDI will seek to optimize the most promising compounds from three
chemical series to enable preclinical testing in models relevant to HD
pathology. Trophos retains the right to develop and commercialize the
clinical candidates arising from the program as therapeutics for HD.
"Trophos' primary neuronal cell screening
platform represents an important part of CHDI's portfolio. We look forward
to our continued partnership with Trophos to explore the progression of
compounds as they are identified," said Robert Pacifici, CSO at
CHDI.
"We are pleased that CHDI has chosen to continue to
support the chemical optimization and pharmacological profiling of these
three families of molecules identified using the proprietary neuronal cell
screening platform developed at Trophos," said Rebecca Pruss, CSO
at Trophos. "Access to the network of academic and clinical Huntington
disease experts, along with the enabling drug development technologies
CHDI has assembled, will facilitate the rapid translation of our most
promising compounds into drug candidates for future clinical development."
About Huntington disease (HD):
HD is a familial disease, passed from parent to
child through a mutation in a gene. Each child of an HD parent has a 50-50
chance of inheriting the HD gene which causes programmed degeneration of
brain cells and results in emotional disturbance, loss of intellectual
faculties and uncontrolled movements. Most people with HD develop the
symptoms at midlife but in some people onset occurs in infancy or old age.
The average survival time after onset is approximately fifteen to twenty
years. It is estimated that about one in every 10,000 persons has the HD
gene. At this time, there is no way to stop or reverse the course of HD.
About Trophos:
www.trophos.com
Trophos is a biopharmaceutical company developing
drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington disease.
These are severely debilitating, often fatal, disorders with few effective
drugs and tremendous unmet medical needs. Trophos collaborates actively
with patient associations who contribute important scientific and clinical
expertise related to neurodegenerative diseases, as well as research
funding. Trophos was founded in 1999, is based in Marseille, France and
currently has 35 employees.
About CHDI, Inc. and High Q Foundation:
CHDI Inc. and the High Q Foundation, Inc. (High Q)
are non-profit organizations that share the mission of bringing together
academia, industry, governmental agencies, and other funding organizations
in the search for Huntington disease (HD) treatments.
CHDI, Inc. is pursuing a biotech approach to rapidly
discover and develop drugs that prevent or slow HD. Through collaborations
with industrial and academic partners, CHDI, Inc., participates in all
aspects of drug discovery and development from high throughput screening
to preclinical development. For more information about CHDI, Inc. and its
collaborative programs, please see
www.chdi-inc.org or contact Robert
Pacifici (
robert.pacifici@chdi-inc.org
).
High Q supports HD research aimed at target
identification and validation, the development and use of animal models,
drug delivery, and the search for markers of disease progression. For more
information about High Q and its support of HD research please see
www.highqfoundation.org or contact
Ethan Signer (
ethan.signer@highqfoundation.org
) or Allan Tobin (
allan.tobin@highqfoundation.org
).
For more information please contact:
Andrew Lloyd & Associates
Andrew Lloyd / Neil Hunter
Tel: +44 1273 675100
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