Another article:

Cogane™ data presented at ‘11th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders’



GODMANCHESTER, Cambridgeshire, U.K. (5 June 2007) – Phytopharm plc (LSE: PYM)

(”Phytopharm” or the “Company”) announces today pre-clinical data showing that Cogane™ reverses the changes in the area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease. This data will be presented by Dr Jonathan Brotchie, an internationally recognised expert on Parkinson’s disease at ‘The 11th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders’ 5 June in Istanbul, Turkey and published in The Movement Disorders Society’s journal*.

Cogane™ reverses the changes in area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease by inducing the production of neurotrophic factors. These growth factors promote the growth and connectivity of neurones and reverse the atrophy of this area of the brain. This latest study was partly funded by The Cure Parkinson’s Trust.

Commenting, Tom Isaacs, co-founder of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust said: “Cogane’s ability to induce a person’s own neurotrophic activity offers a very real prospect of a better treatment for Parkinson’s disease. As a patient led organisation, The Cure Parkinson’s Trust is very excited about the potential of this product to completely restore motor function to those with the condition. We are delighted our targeted fund allocation in this area of research has been directly involved in these latest findings.”

Commenting, Dr Daryl Rees, Chief Executive Officer of Phytopharm, said: “There is an urgent need for new therapeutic approaches to Parkinson’s disease.

Pre-clinical studies with Cogane™, an orally bioavailable neurotrophic factor inducer, have been highly encouraging in reversing the changes in the area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease, providing hope that Cogane™ could restore normal control of movement.”

Phytopharm is a pharmaceutical development and functional food company whose product leads are generated from medicinal plants. The Company’s strategy is to develop these products through ‘proof of principle’ clinical testing, and then secure partners for late stage development, sales and marketing. Laboratory, manufacturing and clinical work is outsourced to selected specialists, operating under expert in-house management. This operational structure allows access to the best external research facilities whilst maintaining low fixed overheads and a lower development cost structure.

Cogane™
Cogane™ (PYM50028) is a novel non-peptide, orally bioavailable neurotrophic factor inducer that readily crosses the blood brain barrier. In pre-clinical studies, Cogane™ stimulates the release of neuronal growth factors, increases neurite outgrowth and protects against neuronal degeneration.

Importantly, Cogane™ also reverses the decrease of neuronal growth factors and reverses dopaminergic neuronal degeneration observed in vitro. When administered orally to pre-clinical models of Parkinson’s disease, Cogane™ reverses the loss of dopaminergic neurones.

*Movement Disorders (2007) Vol 22 (Suppl 16): page S18, abstract number 58.

I put Cogane on My Google alert to keep this channel of hope flowing
The following story is a repeat but it is well written as I think

Back to the Fucshia as Fox backs plant bio
Written by Sam Fountain
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
A potential Parkinson’s disease treatment developed by Phytopharm, the Cambridge company that uses medicinal plants to develop drugs, has attracted a $1.16m grant from Hollywood A-lister, Michael J Fox to further research into the firm’s medicine, Cogane.
Fox, who starred in the iconic ‘Back to the Future’ movies, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991.

In pre-clinical models, Phytopharm’s treatment has been found to reverse changes in the area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s by inducing the body’s own production of proteins known as neurotrophic factors, in particular GDNF.

GDNF has been shown to be particularly effective in re-growing damaged nerves, but as it is a protein can’t be administered orally and struggles to cross the blood-brain barrier.

GDNF can work only when injected into or when produced inside the brain, and direct injection of GDNF into the area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s has shown substantial beneficial effects in small-scale clinical studies but requires highly complex and difficult surgical procedures.

Cogane, which can be taken orally, readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and stimulates the release of GDNF in the brain.

The award comes from The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) set up in 2000 by Fox, who famously hid his suffering from the debilitative disease for a number of years whilst continuing to act on television.

“MJFF is extremely eager to see the development of an orally bioavailable product that can stimulate production of GDNF or other neurotrophic factors in the brain,” said CEO of the foundation, Katie Hood.

“The development of novel alternative delivery mechanisms for neurotrophic factors is critical in realising the potential of these proteins to restore motor function and increase quality of life for Parkinson’s disease patients.”

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder caused by altered signalling of an area of the brain, and resulting in muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement and, in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement.