http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...e-results.html

Phytopharm jumps on promising Parkinson's disease results
Phytopharm shares jumps 67pc after the Cambridge-based biotech company reported promising results from early tests of its Parkinson's disease drug Cogane.

Published: 9:50AM BST 14 Oct 2009


The Phytopharm study was funded by a $1.16m grant from a foundation set up by Parkinson's sufferer Michael J. Fox, the Hollywood actor. Photo: Getty The company said the drug "significantly reduced Parkinsonian disability by 43pc" in macaque monkeys over 18 weeks.

At the same time, a 28-day Phase Ib clinical trial found the drug to be safe and generally well tolerated in both healthy volunteers and Parkinson's disease patients.
"The investment case for Phytopharm centres on Cogane," KBC Peel Hunt analyst Paul Cuddon told Reuters. "Today's impressive clinical and pre-clinical data demonstrate the potential for Cogane to become the first disease-modifying therapy in the fast-growing $11bn Parkinson's disease market."

Dr Jonathan Brotchie, Senior Scientist at Toronto Western Hospital, said in a statement: "This is the first treatment I have seen with proven potential to reverse the disease process in macaques and not just treat PD symptoms."

Phytopharm will present more details results at a medical congress in Miami in December and chief executive Sandy Morrison said the company intended to "move rapidly to a proof-of-concept clinical study".

This is great news !!
But, how long does it take for a product like this to become commercially available?

And, is there anybody in the forum who has participated in these tests and can comment about it?

Is this as beneficial as it is described to be? No one seems to be reacting to this news Does that mean this drug is just another cause of false hope?

I haven't spoken with anyone on MJFF research team so this isn't an official MJFF comment but I want to balance enthusiasm with the observation that is a success in an open label trial, small number and shifting protocol during the trial. So, it would be important to next see positive results in a larger, double-blind placebo controlled trial.

This gene therapy approach is likely just starting a path similar to the Ceregene effort...so, more work to be done and continued investment in this potentially promising therapeutic approach.

Debi

was aimed at the safety of the drug, and wasn't intended to test its efficacy as a treatment of PD.

As for Cogane's pre-clinical results, well we all know if we were rats or monkeys we would be cured by now.

As for Oxford Biomedica's Prosavin, well it appears to work in the Phase I trial, mind you they all do at Phase I, (Spheramine, Ceregene, etc.).

Its all good news and the results for both are better than the alternatives, (i.e. both halted), but there is such a long way to go !!

Neil.

Phytopharm is a very small UK based company. It's share price was down at only 4.5p last week prior to the announcement about the successful safety trials. A couple of years ago a mate of mine bought Phytopharm shares at
60p each (not on my recommendation I hasten to add). But then trials on their new slimming drug (hoodia) did not go well and Unilever withdrew their funding and the share price collapsed. In less than a year the companies market capitalisation dropped from circa £60M to circa £5M. Their MD and FD both resigned last November and until recently they were only operating with an Interim CEO.

So that was a huge milestone for the company last week to be able to report successful safety trials of Cogane. As the companies survival had been looking particularly dodgy. Human trials are scheduled for second quarter next year but originally (pre - Hoodia collapse) should have started already.
The MJF Institute have donated over $1M to this research.

Interesting quote from phytopharm's web site:

"in preclinical models has been shown to stimulate the release of GDNF in the brain and therefore has the potential to overcome many of the difficulties associated with GDNF administration."

http://www.phytopharm.com/cogane/

The results of the pre clinical trials are impressive, the results of the safety trials appear to be satisfactory - so lets hope this company gets enough finacial support to get through the human trials!

Chris

Great news about Cogane!
This seems to be a treatment we can really get excited about -- unique in a number of ways. First of all -- it can be administered as a pill. It is plant-based. It induces production of GDNF, which we know is a potent neurotrophic factor. It is also being studied as a treatment for Alzheimer's, which would increase its market value. The research is being funded by both the Michael J Fox Foundation and Tom Isaac's Cure Parkinson's Trust. I think we can trust that the development of Cogane will move along with a sense of urgency, shared by all PWP. A Phytopharm press release, gives a nice summary of the development of Cogane and the early trial results --see http://www.phytopharm.com/assets/REL-155.pdf

Let's hope the phase II trial is a great success and as Chris said above "lets hope this company gets enough financial support to get through the human trials."

Amen...