Prana sets sights on Alzheimer's diagnostic

Possible links between the pathology of the eye and the brain have been identified by Prana consultants working on Alzheimer's patients.

Colin Masters, Ashley Bush and Rudolph Tanzi from the University of Melbourne and Harvard Medical School have published a paper in UK medical journal The Lancet detailing the discovery of supranuclear cataracts in Alzheimer's disease patients, and potential links between them and the prediction of the disease.

"Prana has always been interested in diagnostics for Alzheimer's, as without the ability to establish the presence of the condition it is hard to work on the therapeutic side of our research," said Prana chief operating officer Ross Murdoch.

"The general feeling has always been to get to and treat Alzheimer's before it becomes established, but that is really hard so far as the markers of the condition only become apparent as the disease builds."

The paper concluded that beta-amyloid is present in the lens cells of people with Alzheimer's disease, in which it might promote protein aggregation, amyloid formation, and supranuclear cataracts.

"The eye is the one spot you can look into the brain," noted Murdoch. "Otherwise the only way to tell if somebody has Alzheimer's is to chop the top of their head off and look inside."

Prana says it is as yet a long way from a diagnostic, as the results so far were gained from the examination of post-mortem subjects. The next stage is to research the links between protein aggregation and the presence of Alzheimer's in living subjects.

"Unfortunately this is something of a chicken and an egg situation, as we can only really identify the presence of the disease once it has become established, in which case the early detection of the cataracts is too late," said Murdoch.

However, the research is still in its early days. Much work remains to be done, with Prana keen to point out that its core business still remains within the therapeutic research field. Murdoch noted that it is very easy for biotechs to be distracted by exciting discoveries and lose focus on their core business, but that Prana was evaluating the findings of the new work very carefully indeed.

"We are certainly interested in a diagnostic, but are still discussing whether or not it will be possible for us. We are fundamentally a therapeutics company; we will take advantage of this [research] if we can but will not jeopardise our therapeutic position," he asserted. Prana's progress with PBT-1, an orally administered copper/zinc-binding drug designed to reduce beta-amyloid accumulation, is already in phase two of trials.

A possible avenue for Prana to maintain the impetus of the findings would be to seek partnerships for further research and possible production of a diagnostic, or to seek specific research grants, said Murdoch.

"This really is an exciting finding. It gives us a marker we can look at, although we know we are a long way from a definitive answer," he said.