AlzeCure presents disease-modifying data with NeuroRestore ACD856 at Alzheimer's conference CTAD

AlzeCure presents disease-modifying data with NeuroRestore ACD856 at Alzheimer's conference CTAD

AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO: ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops drug candidates for CNS diseases, focusing on Alzheimer's disease and pain, today announced that the company's presentation at the Alzheimer's conference CTAD 2023 is now available in its entirety on the company's website. The presentation contains new preclinical data with its leading clinical drug candidate NeuroRestore ACD856, which is being developed with a focus on Alzheimer's disease.

”These new preclinical data provide further support for a potential disease-modifying effect of NeuroRestore ACD856. This, together with the previously observed memory-enhancing effects, shows a broad potential for this drug candidate," said Pontus Forsell, Head of Discovery and Research at AlzeCure Pharma.

The presentation, titled NeuroRestore ACD856, a Trk-PAM in clinical development for Alzheimer’s disease shows neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects, was held by Martin Jönsson, CEO at AlzeCure Pharma, and includes new preclinical data with ACD856, the lead clinical drug candidate in the NeuroRestore platform.

The results from the new preclinical studies with ACD856 show, among other things, that the substance can protect nerve cells against toxic Ab42, the protein that forms amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Furthermore, growth-stimulating effects on neurons were observed with ACD856. These effects have specific relevance to Alzheimer's disease, where dysfunction and loss of neurons are important key findings in the disease.

ACD856, which is a positive modulator of both NGF/TrkA- and BDNF/TrkB-mediated signaling, has been shown in previous preclinical studies to improve learning and memory and is being developed primarily for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The drug candidate has undergone phase I clinical studies, where both good safety and tolerability were demonstrated in humans, but also that the drug candidate crossed the blood-brain barrier and that the substance activated parts of the brain that are central to both cognition and depression treatment.

“These new results with NeuroRestore ACD856 strengthen the commercial potential of the project. The findings are not only relevant for Alzheimer's, but also for other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and frontal lobe dementia," said Martin Jönsson.

The poster 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
martin.jonsson@alzecurepharma.com

About AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ)

AlzeCure® is a Swedish pharmaceutical company that develops new innovative small molecule 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.

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.

There is also a connection between BDNF signaling and depression, something that has been further strengthened in recent years. AlzeCure has been able to show in preclinical models that NeuroRestore substances have antidepressant effects, which are further strengthened by data in recently published articles in the well-respected journals Cell, Nature and Science. These studies show that several different classes of antidepressants appear to mediate their effects via BDNF/TrkB, further strengthening the link between BDNF and depression.

About Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting approximately 45 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 USD globally in 2019 and is expected to triple over the next 30 years as the average life expectancy is expected to continue to increase. 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 global 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.