Pharma

Alzheimer’s researchers form company, look to clinical trial of cancer drug

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University made a big splash earlier this year when they […]

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University made a big splash earlier this year when they published research that showed a skin cancer drug reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice.

Now, the researchers have formed a company, ReXceptor, to begin tests that could determine whether the already approved cancer drug, called bexarotene (brand name Targretin), could have the same effect in humans.

ReXceptor is looking to raise funding for a phase 1 clinical trial and will eventually need to contract with a strategic partner to push the drug through lengthy and expensive clinical trials with Alzheimer’s patients, CEO Michael Haag told Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Haag, the director for biomedical licensing in Case’s technology transfer office, didn’t respond to an email last week that sought details on ReXceptor.

About four years ago, two Case researchers, Gary Landreth and Paige Cramer, began testing the drug on hundreds of mice that were genetically engineered to develop a condition similar to Alzheimer’s.

Their research showed that the drug was able to reduce levels of Beta-amyloid plaque, a protein fragment that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Landreth has referred to the drug as acting as a “garbage disposal” for Alzheimer’s-related plaque.

The researchers were struck by the speed with which bexarotene improved memory deficits and behavior as it also acted to reverse the pathology of Alzheimer’s. Within six hours of administering the drug, some amyloid levels dropped as much as 25 percent.

Of course, it’s very important to note that bexarotene has only been shown to reverse Alzheimer’s in mice, so it’s far from certain that it’ll do the same thing in humans.

“Making the leap from mice to humans is the most difficult step in drug development,” neurologist Samuel Gandy of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital told Science News.

“Based just on odds, I would bet against the drug, but the mechanism is novel and appealing so I’m hoping that it beats the odds,” he continued.

The brand-name version of bexarotene, Targretin, was developed by San Diego biotech company Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND), which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval on the drug in 1999. Eisai acquired Targretin and three other cancer products from Ligand in 2006 for $205 million. Targretin’s patents expire in 2016.

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