Saniona presents new supportive data in pain and interesting results in neuroinflammation
Saniona, a leading biotech company within ion-channel research, announces today that it will make two poster presentations at the Society for Neuroscience meeting 2015 in Chicago in October. Saniona plans to publish new preclinical efficacy data for AN363, which support the use of AN363 for treatment of neuropathic pain. In addition, Saniona plans to present scientific data in relation to the AN346 program, which shows that compounds developed under this program may potentially be interesting for the treatment of inflammatory neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.
New efficacy and interaction data for AN363 for neuropathic pain
The Society for Neuroscience has accepted the abstract "AN363, a novel GABAA α2/3/5 receptor subtype selective positive allosteric modulator for treatment of chronic pain." The poster is scheduled to be presented on Saturday October 17, 2015, in the afternoon session “Pain, Headache and Migraine” by Dipak V. Amrutkar, Ph.D., Research Scientist at Saniona.
The new presented data shows that AN363 is effective in two inflammatory mouse pain models including the Complete Freund’s adjuvant mouse model and the formalin mouse model. In addition to this, Saniona will present the results from an interaction study, which shows that AN363 binds to the relevant site on the GABA receptor in the brain of rats.
“Saniona has previously shown that AN363 is highly efficacious in both a capsaicin induced acute pain model and in a chronic constriction injury (CCI) induced neuropathic pain model in rats. We have now efficacy data from four different animal models, which supports the use of AN363 as a potential new effective treatment for neuropathic and inflammatory pain”, says Jørgen Drejer, CEO of Saniona.
New data shows interesting results of Saniona’s AN346 program in relation to inflammatory neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease
The Society for Neuroscience has accepted the abstract "Functional expression of the intermediate-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel, KCa3.1, in microglia isolated from human neocortical tissue" for poster presentation. The poster is scheduled to be presented on October 21, 2015, in the afternoon session “Neuroinflammation: General” by Linda Blomster, Ph.D. and postdoc at Saniona.
These studies where performed by Saniona in collaboration with the Neurobiological Research Unit (NRU), Copenhagen University Hospital. Saniona’s postdoc Linda Blomster is supported by an EU postdoc fellowship from INMiND, http://www.uni-muenster.de/InMind/.
By the use of Saniona’s proprietary compounds under the AN346 program and microglia isolated from the brains of epilepsy patients undergoing therapeutic neurosurgery, Saniona and NRU demonstrate that the IK channels are functionally expressed on resting human microglia as well as on human microglia continuously challenged with standard pro- and anti-inflammatory stimuli.
Microglia are the immune cells of the brain. Microglia are key players in neuroinflammatory processes and are considered to be cellular targets for development of drugs against neurological diseases. The result means that compounds developed under the AN346 program may potentially be used for treatment of inflammatory neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Saniona has previously shown that AN346 is highly efficacious in animal models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which repents a USD 5.9 billion market. The potential new uses of the compounds under the AN346 program will expand the market significantly. Datamonitor Healthcare forecasts the multiple sclerosis market to grow to USD 18.6 billion in 2018 in the 7 major markets and the Alzheimer’s disease market to grow to USD 10.1 billion in 2021,” says Jørgen Drejer, CEO of Saniona.
Currently, Saniona plans the development of the AN346 program for IBD only.
For more information please contact
Thomas Feldthus, EVP and CFO, Saniona, Mobile: +45 2210 9957, E-mail: tf@saniona.com
About Saniona
Saniona is a research and development company focused on drugs for diseases of the central nervous system, autoimmune diseases, metabolic diseases and treatment of pain. The company has a significant portfolio of potential drug candidates at pre-clinical and clinical stage. The research is focused on ion channels, which makes up a unique protein class that enables and controls the passage of charged ions across cell membranes. Saniona has ongoing collaboration agreements with major pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer Inc., as well as Saniona’s Boston based spinout Ataxion Inc., which is financed by Atlas Venture Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. Saniona is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, where it has a research center of high international standard and 18 employees. Saniona is listed at AktieTorget since April 2014 and has about 2,000 shareholders. The company’s share is traded under the ticker SANION. Read more at www.saniona.com.