Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Presents Findings on its Alzheimer's Drug Development Program at 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience

Company Presents Data Validating Novel Cell Model of Oxidative Stress For Screening Drugs to Treat or Prevent Alzheimer's Disease

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. presented new findings today on its Alzheimer's Drug Development Program at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, California.

The presentation, entitled "Olfactory Epithelium Shows Increased Oxidative Stress in Alzheimer Disease," outlined changes in key oxidative stress markers and the usefulness of cultured olfactory neurons to provide an Alzheimer's disease (AD)-specific oxidative stress model.

Increased oxidative damage is a prominent and early feature of vulnerable neurons in AD. However, while damage to proteins, sugars, lipids, nucleic acids, and organelles such as lysosomes and mitochondria are evident, the source of increased reactive oxygen species has not been determined. Furthermore, a major limitation in further understanding this source, as well as a means to arrest damage, is the paucity of a reliable cellular model since the vulnerable neurons of the brain in AD cannot be maintained in culture.

In the study presented, olfactory epithelium were examined both in situ and in culture to see if neurons exhibiting pathological oxidative balance, as in AD, could be directly studied. In tissue sections from biopsy specimens, neurons and other cells show an AD-related increase in the lipid peroxidation/glycoxidation markers. When examined in culture, olfactory neurons maintained an AD-dependent phenotypic difference in the same oxidative markers.

"These novel findings offer the opportunity to understand the mechanistic basis for increased oxidative damage in AD, provide a model to screen compounds for therapeutic intervention, and could potentially be used in the diagnostic evaluation of patients," said Hossein A. Ghanbari, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Company. "We will utilize this model alongside our other proprietary treatment approaches to AD in order to screen compounds specifically aimed at protecting vulnerable neurons in the brain of AD patients from damage while restoring normal function."

The Company previously announced the signing of both a Collaborative Research Agreement and License Agreement with Dr. George Perry and Dr. Mark Smith at CWRU for the use of oxidative stress markers and proprietary models as well as newly discovered findings and models involving cell cycle abnormalities found in AD in screening drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. These agreements give the Company exclusive worldwide rights to the technology and establish a seamless working collaboration between the groups that grants the Company exclusive rights to all future developments resulting from the collaboration.

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing functional genomics and proteomics to develop therapeutics and diagnostics for cancer. The Company's technology pipeline includes drug development programs for central nervous system diseases, particularly Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

More information is available at http://www.PanaceaPharma.com.