Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces New Publications Supporting Use of Cell Cycle Models for Alzheimer's Disease Drug Development

Published findings validate the use of Panacea's proprietary models for screening drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BW HealthWire)--December 19, 2000--Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that two publications have appeared in the journal Neurobiology of Aging (Vol. 21, No. 6, pages 807-813 and 837-841) describing novel discoveries and models involving cell cycle abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease (AD).

In July of this year, the Company announced a worldwide exclusive License Agreement and Collaborative Research Agreement with Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio that cover the technology related to these findings.

The publications are a result of a collaboration between Company scientists and scientists at CWRU, and were led by Mark A. Smith, Ph.D., who is currently Associate Professor of Pathology at CWRU. Dr. Smith is a Special Consultant for Alzheimer's Disease to Panacea and a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. He is a highly active researcher exploring innovative approaches in the study of the etiology of AD. Dr. Smith has pioneered research into cell cycle involvement in AD and its use as a target for drug development.

Previous studies have established the link between loss of cell cycle control and apoptotic death of neurons during development. This indicates that attempts by neurons to proliferate may be a central event in the process of neurodegeneration.

The publications, entitled "Neuronal CDK7 in hippocampus is related to aging in Alzheimer's disease" and "Neuronal polo-like kinase in Alzheimer disease indicates cell cycle changes," provide a novel mechanistic basis for therapeutic intervention.

Panacea is using its proprietary technology to model cell cycle abnormalities in AD and the factors causing these abnormalities as a target for drug development. Drugs so developed may stop the progression of the disease and could have a preventative effect.

Dr. Smith stated, "The results reported in these publications clearly implicate cell cycle abnormalities in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease and provide a highly relevant target for rational drug development and screening."

"We are continuing to build an Alzheimer's disease technology portfolio aimed at abnormalities relevant to the etiology of the disease and not simply the clinical or histopathological symptoms," stated Hossein A. Ghanbari, Ph.D., President and CEO of Panacea.

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. focuses on developing and utilizing protein-based technologies to detect and identify changes associated with and involved in diseases of the central nervous system and cancer such as Alzheimer's disease, brain tumors, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and Lewy body diseases such as Parkinson's disease.

Changes in disease-relevant proteins by altered expression, post-translational modification, and functional variation are utilized to develop diagnostic tests and therapeutic agents.