Start-up heads to clinic with Alzheimer's drugs

A group of scientists has launched a new biotech company to advance therapies for Alzheimer's. CEO Michael Mullan, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. and Chief Technical Officer Fiona Crawford, Ph.D., say Archer Pharmaceuticals is basing its work on the research that their team has been conducting at the Roskamp Institute in Florida for the past five years. Two compounds--including ARC029 and ARC031--are ready to go into the clinic, they say, and there are more preclinical compounds in the pipeline.

"ARC029 acts to lower the soluble forms of amyloid before they damage the brain's neurons," said Dr. Mullan. "We believe that the soluble, rather than the deposited forms, are the real culprits in the disease, and so reducing them is our goal with this compound." Archer says it will launch U.S. clinical trials in the next few months.

- read the release

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