New vaccine may stop, slow Alzheimer's

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

Scientists at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation are reporting success in advancing an experimental, preclinical vaccine that can prevent or slow Alzheimer's. The researchers, led by Dr. Jordan Tang, immunized mice engineered with Alzheimer's with the memapsin 2 protein, which plays a role in the development of plaque believed to be central to the memory-wasting disease. Human trials of the vaccine could be just a few years away, though scientists say that any successful vaccine approach would likely be used in combination with other therapies. Other companies, most notably Elan, have attempted to advance vaccines, but failed.

"What we saw is that the mice immunized with memapsin 2 developed 35 percent fewer plaques than their non-vaccinated counterparts," said Tang. "Those immunized mice also performed better than control mice in tests designed to assess their cognitive function."

- here's the release for more information
- read this report on the project

ALSO: Children with a gene known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease already show signs of reduced cognitive function, a study has found. Release

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Hollis-Eden spurs stock price with preclinical news

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

It's not often that you see a set of preclinical data influence a company's stock price, but Hollis-Eden was feeling a strong wind in its sails when it released its data on HE3235 for prostate cancer. Researchers for the company demonstrated that the therapy stopped the growth of hormone independent tumors in a preclinical model using human tumor cells. And they presented information suggesting that the treatment triggers cell death--a key mechanism in fighting cancer.

This was all welcome news for the company, which saw its stock price jump about 35 percent on the report. Hollis-Eden has been staging a comeback since the U.S. government cut it out of the loop for a BioShield contract. Investors seem ready to believe that the company can do it. Hollis-Eden was recently feature in our weekly column on emerging drug developers.

- see the data from Hollis-Eden
- here's the report from TheStreet

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