A startup company is trying to repurpose a hypertension drug, hydralazine, to treat progressive MS. Hydralazine has been approved for decades to treat hypertension. Because the drug is already approved it should be easier (quicker) to bring to market.
Purdue research suggests that a substance called acrolein, when found in the body, acts as a neurotoxin that directly attacks nerve cells — their membranes, DNA and mitochondria — so they degenerate. This triggers a vicious cycle when you have a neurological disease or spinal cord injury, Neuro Vigor CEO Mark Van Fleet said. This is because the presence of acrolein exacerbates oxidative stress — a mechanism heavily linked to neurodegenerative disease. Hydralazine has been found to bind and lower acrolein levels in the body.
Neuro Vigor has licensed hydralazine for multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain and Parkinson’s disease — though will start studying MS as its first target indication. It achieved patents for its approach to multiple sclerosis just last month, Van Fleet said.
Study Link: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/resea...iAcrolein.html
News Link: http://medcitynews.com/2015/07/neuro...ple-sclerosis/
Purdue research suggests that a substance called acrolein, when found in the body, acts as a neurotoxin that directly attacks nerve cells — their membranes, DNA and mitochondria — so they degenerate. This triggers a vicious cycle when you have a neurological disease or spinal cord injury, Neuro Vigor CEO Mark Van Fleet said. This is because the presence of acrolein exacerbates oxidative stress — a mechanism heavily linked to neurodegenerative disease. Hydralazine has been found to bind and lower acrolein levels in the body.
Neuro Vigor has licensed hydralazine for multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain and Parkinson’s disease — though will start studying MS as its first target indication. It achieved patents for its approach to multiple sclerosis just last month, Van Fleet said.
Study Link: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/resea...iAcrolein.html
News Link: http://medcitynews.com/2015/07/neuro...ple-sclerosis/
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