PRESS RELEASE

 

MINDSET GETS U.S. PATENT FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE VACCINE

 

New Orleans, LA

November 10, 2003

 

Mindset BioPharmaceuticals (USA) Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for claims covering the company’s vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease.

 

The vaccine, invented by scientists at New York University School of Medicine, and exclusively licensed to Mindset for development, elicits a response against the beta-amyloid protein known to be toxic to nerve cells and to form insoluble aggregates that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. This unique vaccine approach is based on soluble, synthetic homologues of the human amyloid toxin, which were found to be highly immunogenic when tested in animals. Also, in relevant animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, the Mindset vaccine was shown to inhibit the deposition of toxic amyloid fibrils and to improve cognition. Importantly, Mindset’s technology potentially addresses several major safety concerns for developing a vaccine to beta-amyloid, a protein which is naturally present in the brain and other tissues. These concerns include neurotoxicity of the native protein and difficulties in inducing an antibody response in elderly patients.  Another major safety concern is the potential of Alzheimer’s vaccines to induce an adverse autoimmune response.  In a related discovery, Mindset’s scientists have discovered how to anticipate and also reduce the possibility for this undesirable reaction.

 

“We are increasingly optimistic about the ability to develop a safer and more efficacious therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The allowance by the USPTO underscores Mindset’s important position in this field. This position is already supported by a strong existing intellectual property portfolio and ongoing product development programs that combine to give Mindset an extremely versatile proprietary platform for selection of an ideal therapeutic molecule.” said Dr. Daniel Chain, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mindset BioPharmaceuticals.

 

About Mindset BioPharmaceuticals

Mindset BioPharmaceuticals, a research and discovery company, is an innovative leader in the development of therapeutic products for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Mindset’s therapeutic approaches are aimed at modifying the course of the disease, whereas existing therapies are essentially symptomatic, without affecting disease progression.

 

Mindset has developed a unique platform for lead drug candidate selection and optimization using transgenic mouse models to study drugs effects in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders including cognitive impairment.  MindGenix is a subsidiary of Mindset based in Albany, NY, which offers contract research in the transgenic models. 

 

 

 

About Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a  neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 8 million Europeans and Americans and the number is expected to rise dramatically with an increasing elderly population. With symptoms ranging from forgetfulness to language difficulties, from changes in mood and personality to loss of insight culminating in the destruction of brain cells, this devastating condition is one of the leading causes of death in the western world.

 

No cure or disease-modifying therapy has been developed for Alzheimer’s disease. Drugs currently available for the treatment of the disease appear to affect symptoms of the disease, rather than the underlying pathogenesis. There is an urgent need to rethink the goals of Alzheimer’s disease treatment and to create drugs that will not only alleviate cognitive problems associated with the malady’s early stages, but more importantly, slow progression and even prevent the disease altogether. Mindset is poised to meet the therapeutic challenge created by the steadily rising prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.