Neurotech Insights
August 31, 2007
Inside This Issue: Hearing Loss
Top News Alerts: Product Updates, Deals & Financings
Featured Topic: Hearing Loss, Among the Largest Unmet Markets
Featured Company: Sound Pharmaceuticals
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Market Highlights: Neurochem Concedes Defeat in Alzheimer's Trial
After meeting with the FDA to discuss alternative statistical models for analyzing their Phase III data, Neurochem (NRMX) finally announced that their lead, Alzhemed failed to provide significant improvement on the primary endpoint of the trial, improvement on the ADAS-COG. The stock lost almost two thirds of its value in August. The company says it has enough cash to get back on its feet, with $80 million projected to last 18 months....
Hearing Loss: One of the Greatest Unmet Markets in the Industry
Hearing loss is extremely common, especially in the elderly. The NIH estimates that 33% of older Americans, age 65 to 74, and nearly half of those 75 and older, have some hearing loss. There are many types of hearing loss and a variety of different causes, including genetic defects, infectious disease, and drug exposure. But the overwhelming majority of cases are due to exposure to loud noise. Several companies are developing therapies for hearing loss. Sound Pharmaceuticals, our featured company is working with ebselen, a hair cell protectant (see featured company story). Auris Medical has a Phase I/II selective NMDA receptor blocker that is aimed at tinnitus...
Sound Pharmaceuticals: Rising Above the Noise
Sound Pharmaceuticals was founded in July of 2001 in Seattle, WA to focus on hearing loss and specifically neurosensory hearing loss. Several of the founders were involved in an earlier venture, called Otogene, based in Germany. Otogene attempted to block the effects of a protein that prevents inner ear hair cell regeneration. If the protein can be silenced, hair cells in the inner ear responsible for transmitting auditory information, could regrow after being damaged by noise or other insults. Otogene was focused on developing a peptide inhibitor of the protein, known as p27Kip1, but several people on the management team, including Jonathan Kil, Eric Lynch and Glenn Kawasaki believed that the approach was flawed. They left Otogene and co-founded SPI, eventually acquiring the assets of Otogene when the company went under. They received some institutional funding, and a lot of support from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Administration (VA). Now the company has one lead compound in the clinic and through Phase I and a robust research effort into using RNAi to block p27Kip1.
Companies covered in this issue include: Accera, Allon Therapeutics, Alseres, Anesiva, Avigen, Biovail Laboratories, Boston Scientific, CeNes Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Concentric Medical, Cyberkinetics, Dov Pharmaceuticals, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Epix Pharma, EV3, FoldRx, Genaera, GlaxoSmithKline, Icagen, Indevus Pharma, Inflazyme, Intellect Neurosciences, King, Leptos Biomedical, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Kinemed, Medtronic, Merck, Micrus Endovascular, Mindweavers, Navinta, NeuralStem, NeurAxon, Neuromed, Neuronetrix, Newron, Opthotech, Paladin Labs, Palatin, Pfizer, Phase 2 Discovery, Prana Biotechnology, Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy, Shire Human Genetic Therapies, Sovay, Tikvah Therapeutics, Transition Therapeutics, Wyeth
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