Stanford licenses discovery for potential neurological disorder treatments

NeurotropeLogoPNGcopyStanford University is partnering with Neurotrope to research a class of compounds called bryostatins as potential treatments for various neurological disorders, the Florida biotechnology company said this month.

Bryostatin, a natural product produced by a marine microorganism called Bugula neritina, is isolated from biomass harvested from the sea. Bryostatin activates an enzyme that, in animals, has been shown to have an effect that plays a role in slowing or reversing the progress of several neurodegenerative diseases, according to Neurotrope.

At the moment, Neurotrope is putting bryostatin through phase II trials as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. At Stanford, chemistry professor Paul Wender has also created analogs of bryostatins, “bryologs,” that Neurotrope says are easier to produce than bryostatin due to their less complex chemical structure.

Wender has signed a license agreement that gives Neurotrope exclusive rights to make, use or sell certain bryologs in potential therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as ischemic stroke, Fragile X Syndrome, traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease. The company hopes to bring a product into clinical development by 2015.

Several companies are trying to create treatments for neurological diseases, because they affect millions of people, but finding the right target has proved difficult.

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