http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0605/S00176.htm

Here's another one from May that I kept in mind too. There's a study going on/being recruited for in NZ.

Ground-breaking Parkinson's Drug Trial Hailed
Friday, 26 May 2006, 3:02 pm
Press Release: University of Otago
Friday 26 May 2006
Ground-breaking Parkinson’s Drug Trial Hailed

- Reflects University’s thorough approach to commercialisation -

News that an innovative Parkinson’s disease-fighting compound invented at Otago University will go to Phase II clinical trials is being warmly welcomed by the University’s commercialisation arm, Otago Innovation Limited, (OIL).

OIL CEO Colin Dawson says the new drug, MitoQ, is a prime example of the kind of innovative laboratory science the University is striving to see translated into products that significantly benefit health and society.

“We are very excited and gratified that this innovative Otago research - which could potentially make a huge difference to the lives of millions - is now well into the long and difficult process of being approved as a medicine,” says Mr Dawson.

Worldwide, many highly promising medical discoveries fail to make even the earliest stages of this transition, because the vital patent protection and commercial development processes were not in place from the outset, he says.

“Early on the University and OIL took care to ensure that the intellectual property relating to this research was protected. Antipodean Biotechnology was engaged as the commercial partner that would help take Professor Robin Smith’s and former Otago colleague Dr Michael Murphy’s discovery from the laboratory bench top to the world,” says Mr Dawson.

OIL has been very impressed with how capable Antipodean has proved in commercially developing the research in New Zealand, he says.

“Antipodean, under Dr Ken Taylor’s leadership, has strongly progressed the project to a point where OIL was quite confident to transfer the intellectual property to the new company charged with international development, Antipodean Pharmaceuticals Inc.,” he says.

Any resulting benefits from the shareholding will be shared by the researchers, their departments and the University, he says.

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“Getting to this important point in commercialising this brilliant Otago research has required years of very thorough behind-the-scenes work by OIL, and we are very proud of the excellent work of all involved.”

-

Notes to Editor:


About MitoQ

What is MitoQ, and why is it special in seeking to treat Parkinson’s disease?

- Parkinson's disease is caused when the nerve cells in the part of the brain that produces dopamine (called the substantia nigra) begin to die, leading to the lack of coordination and other difficulties such as tremors, stiff muscles and joints, associated with the disease.

- There is no treatment for the disease. Existing therapies focus on relieving the symptoms only. They can provide relief for a few years, but eventually the drugs lose their potency and can bring on unwelcome side effects. If this drug is effective it will be the first drug to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

- Research in recent years has increasingly linked the death of these dopamine-producing nerve cells to oxidative damage caused by mitochondrial dysfunction.

- The mitochondria are the cells’ power sources. They are “batteries” within cells that metabolise food and oxygen to supply the body with energy. In doing this the mitochondria also produce reactive oxidant by-products which are normally defused by healthy cells. But when that control process breaks down, oxidation causes cell damage leading to progressive neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s.

- Otago University scientists were the first to target drugs to the mitochondria that are potent blockers of oxidative damage.

- Over ten years they developed a new drug, MitoQ, that involves two parts:

o A “targeting component” that directs the drug to the mitochondria, and

o An antioxidant component which prevents oxidative damage and nerve cell death.

- The antioxidant part was modeled on a naturally occurring antioxidant found in the body, Coenzyme Q. Laboratory tests have shown that MitoQ is 1000 times more effective in preventing oxidative damage than Coenzyme Q.

- The “targeting component” is a positive electrical charge that delivers MitoQ by electrical attraction to the negatively charged mitochondria.

- As a result MitoQ is uniquely able to travel through the cell membrane and position itself in the mitochondria to prevent the chemical oxidation that leads to damage to the mitochondria and dopamine nerve cell death.

- Additionally, MitoQ can accumulate and recycle in the mitochondria, extending its therapeutic effect.

Has this approach been tried by others before now?

- No. This is a completely new and patented technology.

Who discovered this technology, and how did it come about?

- Timing and talent. A top medicinal chemist, Professor Robin Smith, and a world expert on mitochondria dysfunction, Dr Michael Murphy, led the research at the University of Otago.

- The collaboration began when Dr Murphy came to Otago as Associate Dean for Research and the two men began looking at ways to combine their respective areas of expertise to tackle the challenges posed by treating mitochondrial damage.

- Dr Murphy is a world leader in mitochondrial studies. Professor Smith is a widely acknowledged leader in the field of chemistry. MitoQ is a consequence of bringing their areas of knowledge together to create a compound that has the potential to exploit natural cell behaviour to both enter mitochondria and deliver a powerful anti-oxidant.

- Dr Murphy is now Head of the Mitochondrial Dysfunction Laboratory, at the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK which is headed by the Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Walker.

- Professor Ian Tucker, Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Otago, heads the team assessing the compound for its formulation into tablets.

Is this a New Zealand project?

- Absolutely. The invention and clinical development of this exciting drug candidate were carried out using New Zealand centres of research excellence.

- To date the drug has been manufactured totally in New Zealand. The initial clinical studies to establish safety and determine dose levels were completed in New Zealand. Antipodean maintains a research contract with the University of Otago Chemistry Department.

Thanks for this. I was trying to remember the name of this drug!

By the way, many of the threads on the old board are in Google caches. If there's something you want to find, you can try to find the cache by googling it. I wanted the thread for mucuna pruriens with people's experiences with it, and found it by googling my name and mucuna pruriens. The caches don't last forever, so grab what you can now.

ZF, I just googled you & mucuna and the caches are already gone! who takes them and why?

it was stunning to realize how we are being 'tracked' - again, by whom and what for?

incognito here

Ibken, google searches for new pages automatically, I think. It doesn't make me paranoid. I like it!

Here's one page of the cache:

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=3

OTHER PAGES:

http://www.google.com/search?q=zucch...n&lr=&filter=0