January/February 2023 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 9
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AlzeCure – a company that develops a portfolio of small molecule drug candidates for diseases affecting the central nervous system – has announced that it has selected a candidate drug and started the preclinical development phase with its Alzheimer’s candidate ACD680.
The therapy is being developed on AlzeCure's Alzstatin platform, with a view to developing a preventive and disease-modifying drug for the early treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The candidate will now continue through the preclinical development programme, which includes preclinical safety and tolerability studies, as well as stability testing and formulation work.
In Alzheimer's disease, a protein – amyloid beta – accumulates into larger aggregates, such as plaques, which have a harmful effect on nerve cells and their function. ACD680 is a gamma-secretase modulator (GSM), which constitutes a promising class of small-molecule anti-amyloidogenic substances for preventive as well as disease-modifying treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
The GSM affects the production of the building blocks connected to harmful amyloid aggregates and exhibits several key properties that distinguish it from antibody treatments. Furthermore, it can be taken in tablet form, easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and can be produced more cost-effectively.
AlzeCure’s chief executive officer, Martin Jönsson, reflected: “We are very pleased to have begun preclinical development with ACD680. We hereby build further on the communicated strategy to strengthen the project portfolio with the development of several candidates in parallel and also demonstrate AlzeCure's capacity in terms of development and delivery.”
Individuals who are typically unable to manage their type 1 diabetes will be offered new technology to help them control their condition. Furthermore, the assistance is delivered with little human input.
An independent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committee has recommended the use of hybrid closed loop systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes, with the technology described as a step towards an artificial pancreas.
The technology transmits data to a body-worn insulin pump, which uses the data to run a mathematical calculation in order to work out how much insulin needs to be delivered into the body to keep blood glucose levels within a healthy range.
It effectively allows patients with type 1 diabetes to go about their day-to-day lives without having to continuously monitor blood glucose levels.
When type 1 diabetes is not well controlled, patients are often at risk of long-term complications such as blindness, amputations, or kidney problems.
NICE has recommended that patients who are unable to control their condition in spite of using an insulin pump – or real-time or intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring – are offered the technology if their long-term average blood glucose levels suggest they are at risk of long-term complications.
Moderna is the latest member of the UK’s leading pharmaceutical industry body, the ABPI. It demonstrates a wider long-term commitment by the American-based company to expand its footprint and investment across the UK.
The company, which pioneers messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines, is currently targeting rapid global growth. Essential to these ambitions will be a new vaccine research, development and manufacturing facility in the UK.
Following a clinical study, Valneva’s COVID-19 booster vaccine candidate, VLA2001, has yielded more data. A subset of participants received VLA2001 following two or three doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, with or without break-through infection among 25 to 50 participants per group.
VLA2001-307 is a multi-location, open-label clinical study investigating the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the VLA2001 booster vaccination in participants aged 18 years and older.
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has pledged £200m of support in order to ease the pressure of hospital discharges.
Chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, added a note of caution to the latest funding: "It is widely acknowledged that many of the seeds of today’s crisis were sown during the decade of austerity and it is only six months since we had a Prime Minister boasting of building 40 new hospitals and claiming social care was ‘sorted’ so it is good to see Number 10 taking responsibility."
Mainz Biomed – a company specialising in the early detection of cancer – has announced that the first patient has been enrolled in ‘eAArly DETECT’. ColoAlert represents the company’s US extension of ColoFuture, a European feasibility study evaluating the integration of novel gene expression biomarkers.
ColoAlert involves a highly efficacious test for colorectal cancer (CRC) across Europe and in select international territories. ColoFuture/eAArly DETECT, meanwhile, are multi-location studies analysing the potential of these biomarkers to identify advanced adenomas.
Global pharma giants, AbbVie and Eli Lilly, have shocked the UK Government by leaving the voluntary medicines pricing agreement. The move is a response to increasingly punishing revenue clawbacks.
The pair have departed the UK’s Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS) – a long-standing agreement between industry and government, which dates back to the very beginning of the NHS.
Consequently, the companies will operate under the alternative Statutory Scheme for Branded Medicines.
Kidney Research UK has responded to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) draft guidance on therapeutics for patients with COVID-19.
It follows the regulatory body’s decision to significantly reduce the number of treatments available. The charity moved to highlight the evidence that failed to consider the impact on high-risk patients and also strongly supported the case for fast-tracking of potential COVID-19 treatments.