Prana raises cash for next-phase Alzheimer's trials

Melbourne company Prana Biotechnology has entered into agreements to raise $7.8 million (US$6.0 million) from new institutional investors in Australia, existing institutional investors in the United States and a founding member of the company.

The company says it now has $13.2 million (US$10.2 million) in cash to immediately commence its Phase IIa trial of its proprietary compound PBT2 in patients with early Alzheimer's disease, for which it has received full regulatory approval in Sweden.

"We believe these commitments from new and existing investors reinforce the enthusiasm for PBT2 and its potential as an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease," Prana's chairman and CEO, Geoffrey Kempler, said.

"The proceeds raised in this private offering will fully fund the upcoming Phase IIa clinical trial of PBT2 to its conclusion. We are optimistic that this trial will demonstrate the safety and tolerability, as well as the potency and efficacy of PBT2 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease."

Prana has received the regulatory and ethics approvals needed to start the Phase IIa study of patients with early Alzheimer's disease at seven Swedish sites. Screening of patients will commence this week and the company plans to announce the results of the trial in the fourth quarter of 2007.

"PBT2 is one of over 300 proprietary molecules that Prana has developed as candidates to treat a variety of neurodegenerative disorders," Kempler said.

"We plan to use the balance of the funds raised for other activities over the next 12 months, designed to strengthen the evidence in support of our metal protein attenuating compounds (MPAC) theory and development platform for our target diseases."

Prana has other MPAC drug candidates in its development pipeline, including one that is showing considerable promise for Huntington's disease. Clioquinol has turned out to be a promising treatment for Parkinson's disease, and the company is also developing MPAC candidates for motor neuron disease.

The common thread to all these chronic brain disorders is that they are all associated with protein aggregation in specific regions of the brain.

Prana's co-founder, Professor Ashley Bush, said that the identity of the aggregating protein varies - in Parkinson's disease, for example, alpha synuclein protein forms aggregates called Lewy bodies.

He said that by matching the MPAC molecule to the offending protein aggregate, it may be possible to develop specific therapies for these chronic brain disorders.