DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patrick S. Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Curaxis Pharmaceutical Corp (OTCBB:CURX), commented today on a recent article in Bioworld by Mike Williams, an adjunct professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, entitled "A New Research Paradigm Is Needed in Alzheimer's."
Professor Williams notes that 11 clinical trials aimed at reducing amyloid plaques in patients' brains had failed to show any cognitive benefit for patients and that, as a result, a great deal of skepticism has arisen over the validity of amyloid plaques as a target to treat Alzheimer's. The article also expresses concern over the excessive research focus on amyloid during the past 25 years. As one observer notes in the article, the field of AD research has been skewed by "years of amyloid tail chasing." Professor Williams calls for a new, more open-minded paradigm in Alzheimer's research.
Patrick S. Smith stated, "At Curaxis, we certainly agree with the views expressed by Professor Williams, as we have witnessed first-hand the structural inflexibility in Alzheimer's research and funding against novel approaches to the disease. We have maintained for the past 10 years that a strategy that focuses solely on beta amyloid clearance is an inappropriate goal and that a multi-prong approach is needed to address Alzheimer's."
Curaxis' lead Alzheimer's disease candidate, Memryte, addresses the pathologies of Alzheimer's through multiple pathways, including beta amyloid, tau phosphorylation, inflammation and aberrant cell cycling. This multi-prong approach makes Memryte unique in the Alzheimer's space.
"As we ramp up our efforts to launch a Phase 2b trial of Memryte in women, we are immensely excited about the opportunity to produce data as encouraging as the data obtained in our earlier Phase 2a trial in women suffering from mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's. Based on that data, we believe Memryte could be the first disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease," added Mr. Smith.
About Curaxis
Curaxis is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company with a hormone drug product candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and multiple cancers. Curaxis' therapeutic platform is based on the hypothesis that many diseases of aging may be caused by age-related changes in the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. The HPG axis is a hormonal endocrine feedback loop that controls development, reproduction and aging in animals. This drug development platform is built on the premise that hormones associated with this feedback loop are beneficial early in life, when they promote growth and development, but are harmful later in life when the mechanism for feedback is compromised, thereby leading to disease processes, including pathologies associated with Alzheimer's disease and various cancers. We believe our discovery of similar hormonal signaling mechanisms at the cellular level in brain tissue from Alzheimer's patients and in multiple tumors will enable us to develop significant new treatments for Alzheimer's disease as well as many cancers. For more information, please visit .
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CONTACT: Curaxis Pharmaceutical Corp Michael J. Giannini mgiannini@curaxispharma.com