Probiodrug AG has decided to provide research funding to the laboratory of Cynthia Ann Lemere, Ph.D., in the Centre for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr Lemere is pioneering immunotherapy approaches to eliminate pyroglutamated (pGlu) Abeta, a highly toxic peptide that has been correlated with cognitive decline in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

The funding provided by Probiodrug which will be used to expand this work to include additional research aimed at understanding mechanisms of clearance using several experimental anti-pGlu Abeta monoclonal antibodies (mAb) provided by Probiodrug.

Konrad Glund, Ph.D., CEO of Probiodrug commented, “The work being done in Dr Lemere’s laboratory is of the highest quality, and we believe this project shows enormous potential. By establishing this new collaboration with her team, we hope to advance the understanding of how the removal of pGlu Abeta may arrest the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

By providing funding to Dr Lemere, Probiodrug has extended a long-standing collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital that began in 2008. In the initial stage of the collaboration, Probiodrug scientists and Dr Lemere worked to characterize the deposition of pGlu Abeta in different animal models with Alzheimer’s-like pathology and in the human brain. Based on this research, Probiodrug developed an anti-pGlu Abeta mAb that was shown in transgenic pre-clinical models to significantly reduce the concentration of plaque deposits in the hippocampus and cerebellum that is characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease progression. A summary of this work was published in the journals Neurodegenerative Diseases1 and American Journal of Pathology2 “The work we are planning to commence with Dr Lemere will further address the science behind the observed clearance of pGlu Abeta by the antibody,” Dr Glund added. “Our next steps include demonstrating the therapeutic potential of this antibody for treating Alzheimer’s disease. By gaining a better understanding of the manner in which the antibody contributes to clearance of pGlu Abeta and reduction of Alzheimer’s pathology, we will move one step closer to advancing a meaningful therapy against this terrible disease.”

Probiodrug is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutic solutions to treat people with Alzheimer’s disease.