[paula_w]

Ron, Rick and all,

I was just in NYC for a two day Pipeline meeting at PDF, and we had some time to visit the FOX Foundation and meet the new CEO, Sarah Orsay. While we were there, Dr. Todd Scherer came in to chat and so of course he wasn't in the room long enough to shake hands with us before I started talking about the BBB. He was very friendly and talkative, this is our third conversation about it including one email. He said, and Ron or Rick you may be way ahead of this, that a researcher named Chin Chu (I am sorry I don't know how to spell it, I was just trying to remember everything he said,) is testing different substances for their permeability. Somewhere in the Netherlands? It wouldn't have done me any good to start fishing around for pencil and paper as I can't read my writing anyway and I didn't know how long he would stay.

His overall feeling about the BBB is that it is 1 - NEW and 2 - BBB researchers are out there.

I asked him if it would make a good project for a grad student. He thought that grad students usually look for something that has results in a shorter period of time.

Once again, he does not discredit the theory, but instead provides what limited information he has in his head at the time.

I asked about COGANE. Tom Isaacs had confirmed that it was the Cogane people that met with us at BIO/ and Todd Scherer confirmed that they had met with Fox the next day there as they said they were going to. Todd said that is one of many small molecules being researched and didn[t call it a cure as the hype in the press did. But he said they are meeting with the company again later in the summer, so it is still in the running for possible funding from FOX.

Finally, FOX is very excited about GENZYME joining Ceregene in funding CERE120 gene therapy trials. This is major funding, and if neuturin is safe and effective, it just may be the neuro regenerative treatment we've been waiting for.

hopefully,
paula