A team of scientists from the University of California San Diego and University of Pennsylvania has received a $6.9 million grant to help fund a new potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
According to UC San Diego Today, the grant from the National Institute on Aging will be used to prepare the treatment, called CNDR-51997, for clinical trials in the future. The treatment previously was linked to restored brain health in mice with Alzheimer’s disease.
The grant will last for three years, after which the research team reportedly hopes to submit a new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical studies.
According to the researchers, what sets CNDR-51997 apart from other treatments is that it targets the tau protein in the brain, which is one of two protein deposits linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The report notes there are no other approved therapies that target the tau protein.
“Our findings that CNDR-51997 reduces both amyloid beta plaques and tau inclusions in mouse models suggest that the compound holds considerable promise for Alzheimer’s disease. However, there is also a great unmet need for disease-modifying drugs for the other tauopathies,” Kurt Brunden, a research professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of drug discovery at Penn’s Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, said in the report. “The potential of CNDR-51997 to address tau-related diseases beyond Alzheimer’s is another important aspect of its therapeutic promise.”
In addition to Alzheimer’s, the proteins are found in other diseases including frontotemporal lobar degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, Pick’s disease, traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The treatment could also aid in treating these diseases, according to the researchers.
