Singapore-based TauRx will update on Phase III studies of its tau aggregation inhibitor in a podium presentation at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Toronto on July 27, providing an initial glimpse of decades of effort that cost more than $300 million.
Claude Wischik, co-founder and executive chairman of TauRx, has worked on a candidate to inhibit the progression of the tau tangle pathology originally discovered by Alois Alzheimer for about three decades. The company has been around for nearly 15 years, raising money from doctors in Singapore and Malaysia as well as funds from Singapore's Temasek and Malaysian casino and resort operator Genting.
His work is at variance with a focus on beta amyloid that firms such as Eli Lilly ($LLY) and Pfizer ($PFE) have explored aggressively. His research suggests one way to treat the symptoms is by dissolving paired helical filaments with pharmaceutically viable compounds acting as TAIs in order to delay disease onset.
Phase II trials were said to show support for the tau hypothesis as a leading cause of Alzheimer's disease and suggested a treatment that targets tau aggregation could possibly slow disease progression in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s.
"TauRx is now confirming these findings in Phase III clinical trials with the company's second-generation TAI (tau aggregation inhibitor), LMTX," the company said on its website.
"The Phase III clinical trial program involves over 1,900 patients and comprises three separate trials: two in Alzheimer's disease and one in the rare neurodegenerative disorder, behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. This Phase II program is now coming to a conclusion."
This week, TauRx will make what it termed an "an initial announcement of the results of the first two trials to complete" at two presentations at AAIC.
At stake is entry into a market that GBI Research estimates could reach $11.3 billion by 2021 across 8 major countries, including the U.S. and Japan.
- here's the release
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