NeuroSearch

NeuroSearch is a Scandinavian biopharmaceutical company with its headquarters in Ballerup, Denmark and facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden. The primary activities of the company are focused on the discovery and development of new, unique pharmaceuticals that offer better treatment for patients with central nervous system (CNS) disorders. CNS disorders comprise neurological conditions such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, neuropathic pain and epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. NeuroSearch has also started building expertise related to the registration, marketing and sales of specialty CNS drugs.

The core business of NeuroSearch is based on a comprehensive and well-established drug discovery platform with renowned competencies in the fields of ion channel and monoamine system modulation. This platform has provided the basis for a number of partnerships with major international pharmaceutical companies, which through the years have contributed substantially to financing of the company's activities and to building of the product pipeline.

The company has extensive experience in preclinical and clinical development of CNS drugs, and the pipeline currently comprises two candidates in, or ready for, phase 3 development (pridopidine, a specialist drug for the treatment of Huntington’s disease, and tesofensine, for the treatment of obesity), one drug candidate in phase 2 development in partnership with Abbott (ABT-894 for ADHD), two drug candidates in preparation for phase 2 development and three drug candidates in phase 1 development. In addition, several drug pipeline products are in preclinical development.

NeuroSearch is listed on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen A/S under the ticker symbol NEUR.CO.

History

NeuroSearch A/S: Headquarters in Ballerup, Denmark

NeuroSearch was founded in Denmark in April 1989 as one of the first pioneering companies in the Medicon Valley hot-spot area around Copenhagen and Malmö. Since then, the company has grown substantially from a few employees to a staff of approximately 230, and has built a comprehensive portfolio of intellectual property in the area of overlap between CNS disorders and ion channel and monoamine transporter system modulation. Since the beginning, the drug pipeline has been continuously expanded and progressed, partly through collaborations and strategic alliances with major pharmaceutical companies. In 2007, NeuroSearch moved into big biotech and was named as one of the top 10 listed European biotech companies.

In 2006, three drug candidates from a novel class of compounds called dopaminergic stabilizers were added to the development pipeline through the acquisition of Carlsson Research AB, a privately owned Swedish company. Since then, the most advanced of these candidates, Huntexil, has been shown to be successful as a novel treatment for Huntington’s disease. In 2010, NeuroSearch reported positive results from MermaiHD (Multinational EuRopean Multicentre ACR16 study In Huntington’s Disease), the first study in the Huntexil phase 3 programme. The results of this large European study, which examined the effects of Huntexil in almost 440 patients with Huntington’s disease, showed that Huntexil significantly improved global motor function after 6 months of treatment and had a very good safety profile.

To add to this success, NeuroSearch also achieved breakthrough results in 2007 with tesofensine, a drug targeted at the treatment of obesity. In 2008, results demonstrating significant weight loss compared with placebo were published in The Lancet. The investigators concluded that tesofensine could produce at least twice the weight loss of currently approved anti-obesity drugs and should be evaluated in phase 3 trials.^[1]

Products

NeuroSearch has significant preclinical and clinical drug development experience, and their drug discovery platform has provided the basis for collaborations with a number of large international pharmaceutical companies. The current pipeline includes several novel drug candidates in the advanced stages of clinical development, in the fields of neurology, psychiatry and obesity.

• Huntexil for Huntington’s disease (currently in phase 3 development): results from a phase 3 study show improvements in motor function, with positive effects on both voluntary and involuntary motor symptoms of the disease, and suggest that Huntexil may potentially modify disease progression. Huntington’s disease is a hereditary and fatal neurodegenerative disorder, affecting an estimated 70 000 patients in Europe and North America combined. It leads to a broad range of severe motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms; no effective therapy is currently available. NeuroSearch holds the global commercial rights to Huntexil, which has orphan drug status with both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

• Tesofensine for obesity (ready for clinical phase 3 development).

• ABT-894 for ADHD (in collaboration with Abbott Laboratories; phase 2).

• ACR343 for schizophrenia (ready for clinical phase 2 development).

• ACR325 for dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease (phase 1b).

• ABT-560 for cognitive dysfunction (in collaboration with Abbott Laboratories; phase 1).

• NSD-788 for anxiety and depression (phase 1).

• NSD-721 for social anxiety disorder (phase 1).

In addition, NeuroSearch has a broad portfolio of preclinical drug candidates and holds equity interests in several biotech companies.

Reference

1. ^ Astrup A, Madsbad S, Breum L, Jensen TJ, Kroustrup JP, Larsen TM (2008). "Effect of tesofensine on bodyweight loss, body composition, and quality of life in obese patients: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial". Lancet 372 (9653): 1906–13. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61525-1. PMID 18950853. 

External links

• NeuroSearch (company website)