Adeona Completes 100% Enrollment in its Pivotal Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Clinical Study

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Amex: AEN) announced completion of 100% enrollment in Part 2 of its clinical study, A Prospective, Randomized, Double Blind Trial of a Novel Oral Zinc Cysteine Preparation in Alzheimer's Disease (CopperProof-2).  

Part 2 of the CopperProof-2 study is designed as a 60-subject comparator study. Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment subjects are randomized on a 50:50 basis to receive either Zinthionein or matching placebo. After 3 and 6 months on clinical trial material, serum measurements of zinc and copper are taken and any changes in cognitive function using standard Alzheimer's disease clinical tests are recorded. Further information on the clinical study is available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01099332.

Zinthionein is Adeona's single dose, proprietary, gastro-retentive, sustained-release, oral formulation of zinc cysteine that is intended to have greater bioavailability of zinc than the FDA-approved preparation of inorganic zinc acetate. In addition, Zinthionein is designed to be better tolerated with significantly less gastrointestinal side effects than the FDA-approved preparation of inorganic zinc acetate.

Adeona expects that Part 2 of the CopperProof-2 study should be completed by the end of March 2011.  To date, there have been no significant adverse effects seen and no dropouts of study participants. If successful, Adeona would expect to make commercially available its Zinthionein product as a prescription medical food for Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment patients.

David A. Newsome, M.D., F.A.R.V.O., Adeona's Senior Vice-President for Research and Development, remarked, "I am excited about the progress being made in this clinical study and obtaining in March the results of the first controlled clinical study of zinc and cysteine therapy in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment subjects."

"Reaching this important milestone now allows us to focus on GMP production, product packaging and other Zinthionein-related pre-commercialization activities so that this product can expeditiously be made available to people with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment after a positive study result." stated James S. Kuo, M.D., M.B.A., Adeona's Chief Executive Officer.

Background of the CopperProof-2 Clinical Study and Zinc Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Observations by Adeona scientists and other scientists of sub-clinical zinc deficiency in Alzheimer's disease patients(1)(2) plus a body of published literature that chronic elevated copper exposure contributes to the progression of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment prompted the present CopperProof-2 clinical study. A small and uncontrolled zinc therapy study in Alzheimer's disease patients published in 1992(3) demonstrated cognitive improvements in 80% of subjects. In some subjects, the improvement was detectable after only 3 months of administering injectable zinc.

Alzheimer's disease can affect the entire brain but it is particularly associated with loss of tissue in the hippocampus, the area in the brain responsible for several functions including short-term memory retention and processing. The hippocampus has one of the highest concentrations of zinc in the brain. Hippocampal zinc is thought to play a role in hundreds of protective enzymes and other systems, including those that detoxify amyloid beta, an abnormally folded peptide that accumulates in aging and is a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. When cerebrospinal fluid zinc is low, levels of the particularly toxic beta amyloid 42 are elevated.(4)

Hippocampal zinc serves as a neurotransmitter, and also modulates a specific excitatory neuroreceptor, the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartic acid) receptor. If the neuroexcitation goes uncontrolled, there is a derangement of brain tissue function, and possibly neuronal death.(5) By elevating cerebrospinal fluid zinc, NMDA receptor excitation may be better controlled, improving tissue function and thereby acute cognition and tissue survival, as may have been seen in the 1992 study. NMDA-receptor antagonists now available for Alzheimer's, including Namenda and Axura, annually sell an estimated $2.6 billion.

References:

(1) Brewer JG, Kanzer SH, Zimmerman E, Heckman S, Newsome D. Sub-clinical zinc deficiency found in Alzheimer's disease. Presentation P4-313, International Congress on Alzheimer's Disease. Vienna, Austria; July, 2009.

(2) Baum L, ChanI H, Cheung SH et al. Serum zinc is decreased in Alzheimer's disease and serum arsenic correlates positively with cognitive ability. Biometals. 2010; 23: 173-179.

(3) Constantinides J. Treatment of Alzheimer's disease by zinc compounds. Drug Develop. Res. 1992; 27: 1-14.

(4) Strozyk D, Launer LJ, Adlard PA, et al. Zinc and copper modulate Alzheimer abeta levels in human cerebrospinal fluid. Neurobiol. Aging. 2009; 30: 1069-1077.

(5) Izumi Y, Auberson YP, Zorumski CF. Zinc modulates bidirectional hippocampal plasticity by effects on NMDA receptors. J Neurosci. 2006; 26(27): 7181-7188.

About Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Adeona (AMEX: AEN) is a pharmaceutical company developing new medicines for serious central nervous systems diseases. Our primary strategy is to license clinical-stage drug candidates that have already demonstrated a certain level of clinical efficacy and develop them to a valuation inflection point resulting in a significant development and marketing collaboration. We have four drug candidates and one medical food candidate in development. Further information on the company is available at www.adeonapharma.com.

This release includes forward-looking statements on Adeona's current expectations and projections about future events. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. These statements are based upon current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and include statements regarding the expected completion of the Zinthionein clinical study by the end of March 2011 and the expected commercial availability of the Zinthionein product. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in Adeona's forward-looking statements include, among others, a failure of the Zinthionein clinical study to be completed on time or to achieve desired results, or a failure by us or our strategic partners to successfully commercialize Zinthionein and other factors described in Adeona's report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and any other filings with the SEC. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and Adeona undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.