Neurotech Insights
May 31, 2007
Inside This Issue: Neuroplasticity
Top News Alerts: Product Updates, Deals & Financings
Featured Topic: Neuroplasticity Inspires New Treatments
Featured Company: Northstar Neuroscience (NSTR)
Subscribe now to access over 30 articles covering developments in neurotech drugs, devices and diagnostics.
Market Highlights: May Conferences Bring Flood of Clinical Trial Data
May was packed with news as companies revealed new clinical trial data at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting and NeuroInsights’ Neurotech Industry Investing and Partnering Conference. Elan (ELN) and Wyeth (WYE) gained after announcing that they would proceed to Phase III testing of their lead Alzheimer’s candidate after reviewing blinded Phase II interim data. The move showed supreme confidence in the antibody, dubbed bapineuzumab, which is a first in class disease modifying agent (see story, page 5)...
A Seller's Market- Neurotech Partnering and Licensing
A highlight once again this year at the The Neurotech Industry Investing and Partnering Conference in Millbrae on May 17-18, was the Partnering and Licensing in Neurotech Panel discussion. Four big players in neurotech, Thomas Heffner, Executive Director of Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer, Luca Santarelli, Head of CNS at Roche, Lothar Krinke, Vice President of Business Development at Medtronic, and David Paterson, Senior Director of Business Development at Sepracor, revealed what they are looking for to fill pipelines and boost R&D productivity. The panel emphasized certain areas of common interest like Alzheimer’s disease, as well as specific strategic areas for their companies, and generally agreed that they took a case by case opportunistic view in looking at new partnering and licensing opportunities...
Neuroplasticity Inspires New Treatment Approaches
Any neurologist can recall astounding stories of extensive brain damage that appear to have little or no clinical deficit. There is no good correlation between the size of a stroke or trauma injury and the resulting clinical picture. Some people have a tiny area of damage and are severely impaired, whereas others have extensive damage and appear just fine. While there are several explanations for the sometimes baffling discrepancy between clear anatomical damage and lack of functional impairment, a significant contributor is neuroplasticity which can allow for recovery of function as soon as a week following a traumatic event...
Northstar Neuroscience: Stimulating Stroke Recovery
Northstar Neuroscience, Inc. (NSTR) was founded in 1999 in Seattle, WA. After its founder, Alan Levy successfully sold his earlier device company Heartstream to Hewlett Packard, he joined Mayfield Fund as an entrepreneur in residence and proceeded to seek out the most innovative and promising areas for new ventures. He developed an interest in neuroscience which Levy saw as "a field with many patients and essentially no therapies." While many companies were starting to develop neural stimulation devices, they focused on spinal cord, deep brain, vagus nerve, and other areas. "Nobody was working on the cortex and nobody was looking into motor recovery and aphasia," he says. The vacuum left the company an ideal and strong IP position...
Companies covered in this issue include: Abraxis, Acorda, Addex, Apnex, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, BaroFold, Biogen Idec, BrainCells, Inc., Cambridge Laboratories, Cardinal Health, CeNeRx, Cenomed, Ceregene, Cogmed, Cordis Neurovascular, CVRx, Cyberlearning Technology, Cypress, Eisai, Elan, Enteromedics, Fabre-Kramer, Forest, Genentech, GSK, Hypnion, Ixico, Johnson and Johnson, Marinus, Medtronic, Memory Pharmaceuticals, Micrus, Nabi, New River, Neuronascent, NeurogesX, Neuronetics, NeuroVista, Nintendo, Northstar Neuroscience, NovaVision, Orexigen Therapeutics, Organon, Pfizer, PharmaNess, Posit Science, Prestwick, Questcor, Roche, Schwarz, Sepracor, Shire, Solace, Stem Cell Therapeutics, Synosia Therapeutics, Vernalis, Viasys, Victory, Wyeth.
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