Monday
August 8, 2005
Press Release
New study on Leci-PS™ confirms its
effectiveness to improve short- and long-term memory and reveals insights to
its mode-of-action
Degussa Food Ingredients
announces the successful completion of an animal trial reconfirming the
effectiveness of its Leci-PS™ brand Phosphatidylserine to improve short- and
long-term memory in aging animals.
The placebo-controlled study
conducted at Thuris Corporation, California, USA, investigated in addition the
mode-of-action of Leci-PS™ using Thuris’ proprietary BrainPrint™ technology.
The BrainPrints revealed that oral Leci-PS™ supplementation significantly
reduces the activity of inhibitory brain center PVH (paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus). PVH signaling has been
shown by scientists to modulate memory. Increased learning and memory is
associated with a decreased PVH activity. "For the first time
we are really able to understand how the molecular effects of Leci-PS™ translate into specific improvements of
brain activity" said Dr. Roland Rabeler, R&D Manager with
Degussa Food Ingredients.
Recent studies proved that Leci-PS™
is a highly effective nutrient to improve brain functions that tend to decline
with age and to beneficially influence Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
as well as improving performance under physical or mental stress. "The Brain Print
technology is a powerful tool to understand the mode-of-action of Leci-PS™ in different applications and allows the targeted
development of Leci-PS™ based products" added Dr. Ralf Jäger, Manager Strategic Projects with
Degussa Food Ingredients.
A paper on the study
results on the mode-of-action and effectiveness of Leci-PS™ will be submitted to a peer-reviewed
scientific journal within the next few months.
Degussa Food Ingredients
(www.degussa-foodingredients.com) with its two Business Lines Flavors and Texturant
Systems is one of the leading food and nutrition ingredients suppliers
worldwide. It provides all major segments of the food, beverages and
pharmaceutical industry with specialized individual ingredients and
custom-developed solutions for making and keeping food fresh, tasty, healthy
and safe. Degussa Food Ingredients is a Business Unit of Degussa, the global market leader in specialty
chemicals. Innovative products and system solutions enable
Degussa to play a valuable and indispensable role in the success of its
customers, as summed up by our claim “creating essentials”.In fiscal 2004 Degussa's 45,000 employees
worldwide generated sales of 11.2 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of
965 million euros.
Monday
January 31, 2005, 4:26 pm ET
Press Release
Thuris
Names Kevin Lee to Drug Development and Clinical Board
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ --
Thuris Corporation, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on drug
development for neurodegenerative diseases and neurological disorders,
announced today that Dr. Kevin S. Lee has been appointed to the company's drug
development and clinical board. Dr. Lee is the Harrison Foundation Professor
and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience, and Professor of Neurological
Surgery at the University of Virginia.
Gary Lynch, Ph.D., co-founder and Chief
Scientist of Thuris said, "Kevin and I have worked together for many
years, and he is as good as they come. I'm quite pleased to welcome him to the
Thuris team, and I know that his input will be invaluable."
Kevin S. Lee, Ph.D., said, "It is
a pleasure to be involved with the exciting drug development programs at
Thuris. Diseases such as stroke exact a major toll on affected individuals, and
society as a whole. The programs at Thuris hold great promise for the treatment
of debilitating neurological disorders."
Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D., Chief
Operating Officer of Thuris, said, "Thuris is now poised to capitalize on
significant scientific advances we've had in-house. Our next phase is to forward
our pre-clinical leads into human clinical trials. The addition of Kevin Lee to
our advisory board is a validation of our efforts to develop a drug for
stroke-related neurological disorders. He is a recognized expert in the field
and his involvement should accelerate our ability to get a drug candidate
through human clinical trials."
About
Thuris
Thuris is focused on pharmaceuticals to
treat select Orphan and niche indications in-house, ranging from
ischemia-related conditions, brain inflammation, and Huntington's disease. The
future pursuit of Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment will be in
alliance with pharmaceutical partners.
About
Kevin Lee
Dr. Lee is the Harrison Foundation
Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience, and Professor of
Neurological Surgery at the University
of Virginia. Dr. Lee's laboratory is focused on ischemic pathology,
neurovascular communication, and epilepsy. The lab utilizes multiple animal
models of ischemic neuronal injury, single and multi-cell recordings, various
anatomical/histological techniques, microsurgery, Gamma knife radiosurgery, and
other related techniques. Kevin received his Ph.D. from the University of
California in 1974, and worked for six years at the Max Planck Institute in
Munich, Germany. He has served as a
consultant to various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies over the last
2 decades in the area of neurological disorders.
Source: Thuris Corporation
Thursday
January 6, 2005, 4:26 pm ET
Press Release
Thuris
Appoints Jeffrey McKelvy to Member, Board of Directors, and Chair, Drug
Development and Clinical Board
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire
Jeffrey McKelvy PhD MD is President and CEO of Avera Pharmaceuticals in
San Diego, California. Prior to joining
the founding team of Avera, Dr. McKelvy was Vice President of Merck Research
Laboratories and Site Head for their San Diego facility in 1999 following
Merck's acquisition of SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc. In that capacity, he has
overseen the integration of SIBIA into Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. McKelvy
joined SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company as
Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and Director in 1998. In
this capacity, he was responsible for drug discovery and preclinical and
clinical development activities, and was a major contributor to the formulation
of corporate strategy and liaison with the investment banking community.
Prior to SIBIA, Dr. McKelvy became
founding CEO of Trophix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private biotechnology company
in 1997. Trophix pioneered the identification of new molecular targets for
pain, spasticity, schizophrenia and dementia in collaboration with major
pharmaceutical partners. He then led the acquisition of Trophix by Allelix
Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. of Ontario, Canada, and played a transitional role for
the integration of the new company as Senior Vice President for Neuroscience,
Allelix Biopharmaceuticals, and President, Allelix Neurosciences, Inc., U.S.
Allelix was subsequently acquired by NPS Pharma, Inc.
Prior to Trophix, Dr. McKelvy served as
Vice President of the Central Nervous System Strategic Business Unit for CIBA,
where he managed a large portfolio of clinical development candidates for
depression, anxiety disorders, epilepsy, stroke and Alzheimer's disease,
supervising clinical, regulatory, product development and portfolio management
functions for neurotherapeutic agents. In 1987, he left his position as
Professor of Neurobiology, Molecular Biology and Psychiatry at SUNY Stony Brook
and Chairman of the Neuroscience Research Review Committee of the National
Institutes of Mental Health, to join Abbott Laboratories, first as Area Head
for Neuroscience Drug Discovery and then as founding Venture Head for the Neuroscience
Venture. While at Abbott, Dr. McKelvy established joint ventures with
NOVO/NORDISK, resulting in the registration and marketing of the novel
antiepileptic drug GABITRIL®, and with H. Lundbeck A.S., which resulted in the
registration and marketing of SERLECT®, a novel antipsychotic drug.
Dr. McKelvy received his medical and
scientific training at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and Johns
Hopkins University. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at
University of California San Diego School of Medicine.
Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D., Chief
Operating Officer of Thuris, said, "We are thrilled to have Jeff on the
team. His strong background in therapeutic development and proven track
record will bring important insights as we expand into our next phase.
This is a very exciting time at Thuris and having Dr. McKelvy on board makes
our future even brighter. We are looking forward to getting his guidance
across drug development, clinical, and strategic areas."
McKelvy said, "I look forward to
contributing to the growth of Thuris whose technology can provide the basis for
novel therapeutic agents, especially in the
area of disorders of cognition."
About
Thuris
Thuris is focused on pharmaceuticals to
treat select Orphan and niche indications in-house, ranging from
ischemia-related conditions, brain inflammation, and Huntington’s
disease. The future pursuit of Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive
Impairment will be in alliance with pharmaceutical partners.
Thuris' drug development efforts
originated from the Company's in vitro and in vivo animal models that recreate
the hallmarks (including brain inflammation, neuronal inclusions,
neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid toxicity, etc.) of major neurodegenerative
diseases in just days -- a significant leap forward for neuroprotective drug
development. Such advances have enabled Thuris to focus on developing
mechanism-based compounds to treat select disorders.
Thuris intends, through its
co-development partnerships, as well as with its own in-house drug leads, to
forward multiple anti-neurodegenerative therapeutics to the clinic. To this
end, Thuris has partnered with Cephalon (USA; www.cephalon.com), PRAECIS
Pharmaceuticals (USA; www.praecis.com), D-Pharm (Israel; www.dpharm.com),
Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals (Italy; www.sigma-tau.it); the Chinese National
Center for Drug Screening, SiniWest China, and Degussa BioActives (Germany;
www.degussa.com).
June
24, 2004, 1:00 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
Thuris
Receives Grant for Orphan Disease Study from the National Institutes of Health.
IRVINE, Calif. -- Thuris Corporation
has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The grant is being used to further
Thuris’ development of therapeutics for select Orphan indications. Thuris’ drug
development efforts include extensive compound testing in the Company’s
proprietary RapidAging™ models.
"We are very pleased with the
progress of our research on Central Nervous System diseases and with our
ability to secure another round of external, peer-reviewed support,"
stated Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer at Thuris. "This
grant will expand the scope of our Orphan indication programs, one of which was
previously subsidized by a BioSTAR grant.”
RapidAging™ is the first system of its
kind for testing anti-neurodegenerative drugs directly against primary
pathologies in living brain tissue, including: neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid
toxicity, inflammatory reactions, microglial activation, cellular viability,
and others. Thuris' proprietary systems creates these hallmarks of various
neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington’s disease, Mild Cognitive
Impairment, Alzheimer's disease, etc. in just three to six days, enabling the
rapid, precise testing of drug candidates against any or all of these targets -
chronically or acutely. Thuris has entered into partnerships with
multiple companies on the basis of these broad and novel models.
About
Thuris
Thuris is focused on pharmaceuticals
for select Orphan and niche indications, Alzheimer’s disease, and Mild
Cognitive Impairment. Three Orphan clinical programs are in development. Thuris
has also won 510(k) FDA marketing clearance for a medical device to aid
clinical trial enrollment and serve as an endpoint tool in Central Nervous
System disorders. The non-invasive device will also help psychiatrists
and neurologists to diagnose a broad range of brain-related conditions.
Thuris’ drug development efforts
originated from the company’s in vitro and in vivo animal models that recreate
the hallmarks of major neurodegenerative diseases in just days – a significant
leap forward for neuroprotective drug development.
Such advances have enabled Thuris to
focus on developing mechanism-based compounds to treat select Orphan
indications, Alzheimer’s and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Thuris intends, through
its co-development partnerships, as well as with its own in-house drug leads,
to forward multiple anti-neurodegenerative therapeutics to the clinic. To this
end, Thuris has partnered with Cephalon (USA; www.cephalon.com), PRAECIS
Pharmaceuticals (USA; www.praecis.com), D-Pharm (Israel; www.dpharm.com),
Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals (Italy; www.sigma-tau.it); the Chinese National
Center for Drug Screening, SiniWest China, and Degussa BioActives (Germany;
www.degussa.com).
NIH
funds quick maturing company
By
Stuart Crayford
07/13/2004
Thuris has been awarded approximately
$250,000 as a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the NIH to
further its drug development. Thuris will use its in-house RapidAging models to
extensively screen a variety of compounds for the treatment of CNS diseases.
"RapidAging is drug test suite
featuring in vitro and in vivo replication of neurodegenerative
diseases. The in vitro assays use
whole living slices of brain, not dissociated cells like our competitors,"
Dr Keith Hoffman, COO of Thuris (Irvine, CA), told BVV.
The system will be used for the testing
of anti-neurodegenerative drugs against primary pathologies, including
neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid toxicity, inflammatory reactions, microglial
activation, and cellular viability; conditions that are characteristic of CNS
disorders.
Hoffman explained that the current
practice of screening compounds against receptors in isolated or dissociated
cells has several shortcomings. "They produce limited aspects of a complex
phenomenon. They also lack the marked regional variations in age-related
pathologies, and require extended periods of time to generate. RapidAging
addresses these challenges."
...the
slice is right
He continued: "Slices are prepared
from almost any part of the rodent brain in the second post-natal week, a time
at which major circuits and cell types have already been established. Given a
further two weeks in culture, the slices take on a broad range of
characteristics found only in the adult. With the proper manipulations they can
also express characteristic features of the aged brain _ RapidAging provides
the speed and simplicity of in vitro
methods without giving up the neurobiological complexity of the mature
brain."
Thuris' lead programmes include small
molecule compounds for the treatment of Huntington's disease, a stroke-related
orphan indication, brain inflammation, and mild cognitive impairment. "All
the programmes focus on mechanisms aimed at stopping the progress of disease, not
simply fixing one of many symptoms that may be characteristic for such
disorders," stated Hoffman.
Currently, Thuris is gearing up for its
first clinical trials and is seeking to raise cash. The company is considering
several options: going public on London's Alternative Investment Market,
staying private and bringing in a series C round, or staying private and
dividing into a drug and a medical device company. "Our interest in the
split company approach revolves around the fact that we have two absolutely
world-class CEO candidates interested in the respective sides," he
concluded.
August
18, 2003, 12:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
Degussa
Food Ingredients and Thuris commence collaboration to develop bioactives
relevant to mental performance
Degussa Food Ingredients, a leading
supplier in the food arena, and Thuris, a leading integrated biopharmaceutical
company focused on the development of neurogerontological and neuroprotective
drugs, today announced a collaboration aimed at determining sites of action of
certain brain active compounds.
Under the agreement, Thuris will test
compounds from Degussa Food Ingredients in proprietary BrainPrint and
behavioral assays. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"Degussa Food Ingredients runs a
considerable business in the area of bioactives for Dietary Supplements and
Functional Foods”, said Hans-Ullrich Hoppe, Vice President Research, Degussa Food
Ingredients. “An important product line in our portfolio consists of products
to improve mental fitness and stability. Efficacy and mode of action are the
most important descriptors for bioactive compounds. We use that information to
select the best candidates out of our pool of lead compounds. With Thuris we
have identified a very competent partner to improve in the field of brain
activity and we are looking forward to a fruitful cooperation."
"Degussa Food Ingredients has
compounds and extracts that hold promise as central nervous system bioactives.
Thuris intends to determine site- and mechanism-of-action of their compounds
via proprietary anatomical and behavioral analysis," said Keith B.
Hoffman, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer of Thuris. “If the results are
encouraging the two companies intend to unite Degussa Food Ingredients advanced
capabilities in the nutraceutical field with the full suite of Thuris
development technologies. Such a collaboration could span multiple central
nervous system applications, ranging from weight control to sexual
dysfunction.”
Thuris' BrainPrint(TM) technology is a
proprietary technology for evaluating where brain therapeutics act in the
living rodent. The technique allows for activity mapping down to the
level of individual neurons. The methods can greatly assist drug
selection and development by i) demonstrating sites of action of compounds -
and thereby suggest mechanism of action, ii) enabling new-use and/or dosing
patents, iii) identifying active metabolites and, iv) identifying commonalities
and differences between analogous compounds, etc.
Thuris’ behavioral assays include
proprietary measures via a computerized and closely controlled system.
The technology offers objective measures of animal behaviour in response to
centrally-active compounds, and has been shown to differentiate closely-related
compounds across drug classes.
Degussa Food Ingredients with its three
Business Lines Flavors & Fruit Systems, BioActives and Texturant Systems is
one of the leading food and nutrition ingredients suppliers worldwide. It
provides all major segments of the food, beverages and pharmaceutical industry
with specialized individual ingredients and custom-developed solutions for
making and keeping food fresh, tasty, healthy and safe. Thanks to its worldwide
application service centers, sales organization and production network, it is
active both internationally and locally. For further information please visit www.degussa-foodingredients.com.
Degussa Food Ingredients is a business
unit of Degussa, a multinational corporation consistently aligned to highly
profitable specialty chemistry. With sales of 11.8 billion Euro and a workforce
of some 48.000, it is Germany's third-largest chemical company and the world
market leader in specialty chemicals. In fiscal 2002 the corporation generated
operating profits (EBIT) of more than 900 million Euro. Degussa's core strength
lies in highly-effective system solutions that are tailored to the requirements
of its customers in over 100 countries throughout the world. Degussa‘s
activities are led by the vision "Everybody benefits from a Degussa
product - every day and everywhere".
Thuris is an integrated
biopharmaceutical company that has developed animal models that recreate the
hallmarks (including neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid toxicity) of
Alzheimer's Disease in just six days – a significant leap forward for
neuroprotective drug development.
These advances have enabled Thuris to
focus on developing mechanism-based compounds to treat Alzheimer's Disease and
related neurodegenerative disorders. Thuris intends, through its co-development
partnerships, as well as with its own in-house drug leads, to forward multiple
therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders to
the clinic. Thuris is engaged in a drug co-development project with Cephalon
(USA; www.cephalon.com) and has collaborations with Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals
(Italy; www.sigma-tau.it), PRAECIS Pharmaceuticals (USA; www.praecis.com),
D-Pharm (Israel; www.dpharm.com), the Chinese National Center for Drug
Screening, SiniWest China, and Degussa BioActives (Germany;
www.degussa-bioactives.com). Thuris has other drug development projects in
negotiation, and is actively seeking additional partnerships.
The company is also developing a
non-invasive medical device that will assist in the diagnosis of psychiatric
and neurological disorders over a broad range of brain-related conditions. 510k
marketing clearance has been received from FDA for the device as an aid in the
diagnosis of Central Nervous System disorders. Clinical trials are ongoing.
For
further information please contact:
Degussa Food Ingredients GmbH
Daniela Döring
Head of Communication
e-mail: daniela.doering@degussa.com
phone: +49 8161 548 150
fax: +49 8161 548 580
Thuris
Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D.
COO
e-mail: khoffman@thuris.com
phone: 949-417-4623
March
13, 2003
Press Release
D-Pharm’s
novel drug-candidate, DP-109, reduces amyloid-beta plaque deposition in models
of Alzheimer’s disease.
REHOVOT, Israel, March 13, 2003 D-Pharm
Ltd. announced today that it has received exciting new results from two
independent studies. These studies demonstrate the clear effect of DP-109 on
amyloid beta (A-beta) deposition in both in vitro and in vivo models of
Alzheimer’s disease. DP-109 is the second compound to emerge from
D-Pharm’s Membrane Active Chelator (MAC) drug discovery program as a lead
candidate for combating neurodegenerative disease.
In
the first study, DP-109 was tested in vitro in a rapid aging model recently
developed by Thuris, in Irvine, California. In this rat hippocampal slice
model, characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease pathology emerge upon reaching
critical intraneuronal accumulation of A-beta. DP-109 was found to
significantly reduce uptake of A-beta by neurons, and this effect was
accompanied by large decreases in microglial proliferation and activation.
In a second study, using an in vivo
transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, oral administration of DP-109
for 3 months was found to significantly decrease the insoluble A-beta, A-beta
plaques and consequent amyloid burden, compared to the vehicle treated group.
This study was performed by Drs. J-Y Koh and J-Y Lee of the Department of
Neurology at the University of Ulsan, Korea and involved using human mutant
beta-amyloid precursor protein transgenic (Tg2576) mice.
Dr. Itzchak Angel, D-Pharm’s Vice
President for Research and Development said: The results of these studies are significant
and encouraging. We have clearly shown that DP-109 interferes with amyloid-beta
deposition both in vitro and in vivo. This is important validation of D-Pharms
drug discovery platform as a generator of useful drug candidates for
neurodegenerative and other diseases.
About
DP-109
Excessive metal dependent protein
aggregation and impairment of metal homeostasis leading to cell damage and
neuroinflammation is of particular relevance to neurodegenerative disease.
DP-109, the second drug to emerge from D-Pharms MAC drug discovery program, has
been designed so that it selectively chelates calcium and transition metal ions
in lipophilic environments, and thus may interfere with metal dependent
pathological processes. DP-109 is under development as a safe, oral
treatment for chronic neurodegenerative disease. DP-109 is currently in
the preclinical development stage.
About
Alzheimer’s disease
Currently more than 2% of the
population aged 55 and over in developed countries (the United States, Western
Europe and Japan) is affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Growth in the number of
elderly in these markets is expected to increase the total prevalence to
greater than 10 million within the next 5 years. No effective treatment is
available to prevent or reverse the deterioration that results from Alzheimer’s
disease. With no truly neuroprotective drugs on the market, there is a huge
unmet need for new therapies.
About
D-Pharm
D-Pharm (www.dpharm.com) is a
biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of lipid-based
therapeutics. D-Pharm is engaged in both drug targeting and drug discovery
based on the company’s technological platforms: (i) Regulated Activation of
Prodrugs (D-RAP TM ); (ii) Membrane Activated Chelators (MAC); and (iii)
LipidoMimetix TM . This has enabled the company to generate a rich pipeline of
innovative drugs for the treatment of CNS disorders, cancer, and autoimmune
diseases. The company’s business strategy is to develop its products through
proof of principle in man and to seek partners for advanced clinical
development and commercialization.
March
03, 2003, 12:00 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
Thuris
and Sigma-Tau Expand Brain Inflammation Collaboration into Live Animals
IRVINE, Calif. and ROME, Italy -- Thuris, a privately held drug
development and biomedical company, and Sigma-Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche
Riunite SpA, a leading Italian pharmaceutical company, today announced an
expansion of their on-going research collaboration to develop compounds to
combat brain inflammation.
Under the new agreement, Thuris will
broaden the experimental scope into living animals. Further routes of inquiry
include the production of combination therapeutics for use across a host of
brain disorders characterized by inflammation. Specific terms of the
agreement were not disclosed.
"The original collaboration
produced significant results in our in vitro models of brain
inflammation. These successes lead us to conclude that there is a strong
likelihood that we may be able to block brain inflammation in vivo. We
are pleased to see that Sigma-Tau wants to move this project into live
animals," said Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D., Vice President of Thuris.
Claudio Cavazza, President of
Sigma-Tau, said: "We are very pleased to expand our collaboration with
Thuris. The coupling of Thuris' brain inflammation models with Sigma-Tau's
compounds has already produced some key results. We are confident that
this expansion will lead to new therapeutic approaches."
Thuris' RapidAging(TM) technology is a
system for testing potential anti-Aging and Alzheimer's drugs directly against
primary pathologies including; neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid toxicity,
inflammatory reactions, microglial activations and others. Thuris' proprietary RapidAging
system creates these pathologies in just three to six days, enabling the rapid,
precision testing of drug candidates against any or all of these targets,
chronically or acutely.
Sigma-Tau
Sigma-Tau is one of the leading
pharmaceutical groups in Italy. Therapeutic areas on which the company's
research and development are focused include oncological, neurological,
cardiovascular, gastroenterological and immunological indications, among
others. Sigma-Tau has operating subsidiaries in Spain, Switzerland, the
Netherlands, France, Germany and the United States and maintains a presence in
all of the world's major pharmaceutical markets through either licensees or
representative offices. In 2001, Sigma-Tau produced consolidated revenues of
536 million Euros, and has over 2,200 employees worldwide. Press releases and
corporate information from Sigma-Tau are available on the Internet at
www.sigma-tau.it.
Thuris
Thuris is an integrated
biopharmaceutical company that has developed animal models that recreate the
hallmarks of Alzheimer's Disease in just six days – a significant leap forward
for neuroprotective drug development.
These advances have enabled Thuris to
focus on developing mechanism-based compounds to treat Alzheimer's Disease and
related neurodegenerative disorders. Thuris intends, through its co-development
partnerships, as well as with its own in-house drug leads, to forward multiple
therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders to
the clinic. Thuris is engaged in a drug co-development project with Cephalon
(www.cephalon.com) and has collaborations with Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals
(www.sigma-tau.it), PRAECIS Pharmaceuticals (www.praecis.com), D-Pharm
(www.dpharm.com), and The Chinese National Center for Drug Screening. Thuris
has other drug development projects in negotiation, and is actively seeking
additional partnerships.
The company is also developing a
non-invasive medical device that will assist in the diagnosis of psychiatric
and neurological disorders over a broad range of brain-related conditions. 510k
marketing clearance has been received from FDA for the device as an aid in the
diagnosis of Central Nervous System disorders. Clinical trials are ongoing.
For Further Information Contact:
Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D.
949-417-4623
December
4, 2002, 11:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
Thuris
and The Chinese National Center for
Drug Screening Initiate Collaboration
IRVINE, Calif. and SHANGHAI, China, Dec.
4 /PRNewswire/ -- Thuris and The Chinese National Center for Drug Screening
(CNCDS) today announced the initiation of a collaboration designed to evaluate
the therapeutic activity of CNCDS's proprietary compounds with Thuris'
RapidAging(TM) animal models. Thuris will test kinase, protease, and
inflammatory inhibitors selected from the chemical libraries of the CNCDS.
RapidAging(TM) is a system for testing
potential anti-aging and Alzheimer's disease drugs directly against primary
pathologies including neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid toxicity, inflammatory
reactions, microglial activations and others. Thuris' system creates these
pathologies in just six days, in intact slices of living brain tissue. The
technologies enable the rapid, precision testing of drug candidates against any
or all of these targets, chronically or acutely.
"This collaboration with the
Chinese National Center for Drug Screening represents an important expansion of
our in-licensing efforts. We are in a unique situation in that the Thuris
technologies rapidly recreate the human hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease and
other disorders in living brain tissue. Being able to test compounds from the
vast libraries of the CNCDS against such pathologies brings us significant
leverage in the search for mechanism-based drugs. The head of the CNCDS, Dr.
Ming-Wei Wang, is among the most respected executives in China; we are very
pleased to be working with Dr. Wang and the CNCDS," said Keith B. Hoffman,
Ph.D., Vice President of Business Development and IP at Thuris.
"Our collaboration with Thuris is
a part of the CNCDS's recent expansion of international co-operations in drug
discovery and development. The scope of this collaboration is consistent with
our therapeutic focus that includes oncology, neurological disorders and
metabolic diseases. I believe that both parties will be benefited from this
joint efforts by using the RapidAging(TM) system developed at Thuris and the
diversified chemical and natural product libraries of the CNCDS," added Ming-Wei
Wang, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Deputy Director, The Chinese National Center for
Drug Screening.
Thuris
Thuris is