PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, Oct. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MediciGlobal, a global leader in patient recruitment and retention for clinical trials, is supporting TauRx Therapeutics’ Phase III clinical trial for behavioral variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) by informing caregivers and patients about a “Meet the Experts” breakfast on Friday, October 24th, to be held in advance of a special Caregivers Session at the 9th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias.
The breakfast event, featuring leading experts Prof. Claude Wischik, TauRx Chairman, and Dr. Sharon Cohen, director of the Toronto Memory Program, will provide a rare opportunity for caregivers and patients to not only meet a pharmaceutical company chairman, but also a researcher who has devoted the last 30 years to the fight against dementia.
“Because bvFTD is such a little known and little understood disease that affects people at a relatively young age, it is important to raise awareness about this clinical trial,” said Liz Moench, president and CEO of MediciGlobal. “Since there is currently no effective treatment for bvFTD, what TauRx is accomplishing is critical to physicians, caregivers, and patients alike. As a partner in this effort, we are highly motivated to keep this momentum going.”
FTD is the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, usually striking patients in their 40s and 50s, and currently no treatments are approved for this cognitive disorder. A type of FTD called behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) - previously known as Pick’s disease - is associated with early changes in personality and loss of empathy. As the disease progresses, other parts of the brain are affected, eventually producing a global dementia. This form of dementia is particularly aggressive and progresses faster than Alzheimer’s disease.
TauRx is currently enrolling patients in its clinical trial in bvFTD. Interested patients and caregivers can find a listing of participating study sites to contact for further information at www.FTDglobalstudy.com .
TauRx’s clinical trial involves the study drug LMTX, which targets a process in the brain whereby a normal form of tau protein begins to self-aggregate due to binding neuronal waste-products. Once the process has started, the aggregates are able to propagate themselves indefinitely, using up normal tau protein and converting it into the toxic aggregates. LMTX stops this aggregation process in its tracks and releases the trapped tau protein in a form that can be easily cleared by nerve cells. Similarly, LMTX has also been found to act on TDP-43, which is also believed to have a role in the progression of bvFTD.
In a pilot series of cases, LMTX was found to arrest the progression of the disease. LMTX has been found to act in a similar way on the aggregation of TDP-43 protein. Tau or TDP-43 aggregates each account for about 50% of patients with this early form of dementia.
MediciGlobal has played a key role in completing patient recruitment for TauRx’s Phase III clinical trials in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The company is vested in the Alzheimer’s community, bringing information about clinical trials and research via its Facebook community “Alzheimer’s Team.” The community, which includes patients, families, and caregivers, has more than 200,000 members worldwide and attracts more than half a million visitors each week.
About the TRx-237-007 bvFTD Clinical Trial
While Alzheimer’s is characterized by memory loss, FTD is often misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or other mental disorders due to the rapid change in personality or behavior and/or the progressive deterioration in language abilities. The TauRx Therapeutics bvFTD clinical trial (TRx-237-007) is a double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of LMTX in patients diagnosed with bvFTD. The treatment period is 12 months. The study is designed to involve 180 patients in approximately 70 study sites located in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States. The study will examine changes in study subjects’ performance at the beginning and the end of the study in two commonly used clinical assessments.
About Prof. Wischik and TauRx Therapeutics Ltd.
Prof. Claude Wischik, Chairman of TauRx Therapeutics, is board-certified in psychiatry and professor of Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. A pioneer in Tau research, Prof. Wischik’s work on Tau pathology began in 1985 in the laboratory of Sir Martin Roth, who was the first to correlate tangles with Alzheimer’s dementia, and later with Sir Aaron Klug (Nobel Laureate) at Cambridge University. Prof. Wischik subsequently discovered the Tau protein compositional structure of the Alzheimer tangles and established that it was possible to dissolve tangles with pharmaceutically viable compounds that act as Tau Aggregation Inhibitors. He also demonstrated a direct link between clinical dementia and Tau aggregation at the biochemical level, irrespective of ß-amyloid load in human brain. As TauRx chairman, Prof. Wischik has led the company to its current stage, developed its portfolio of projects to the Phase III clinical level, and worked with his Singaporean colleagues to raise approximately $150 million to date.
TauRx Therapeutics Ltd is a spin-out company from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and was established in Singapore in 2002 with the aim of developing new treatments and diagnostics for a range of neurodegenerative diseases. The company’s tau aggregation inhibitor, LMTX, is currently in global Phase III clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and FTD. LMTX targets aggregates of abnormal fibers of tau protein that form inside nerve cells in the brain, giving rise to “tau tangles.’” TauRx’s primary research facilities are headquartered in Aberdeen. For more information, please visit www.Taurx.com.
About the Toronto Memory Program
Founded in 1996, the Toronto Memory Program is a multidisciplinary, community based, medical facility specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. It has one of the largest clinical trial programs for Alzheimer’s disease in the country. Serving the interests of patients and stakeholders locally, nationally, and internationally, the organization’s medical director, Dr. Sharon Cohen, is a Canadian-trained neurologist specializing in behavior and cognition and an internationally recognized expert in this field. To learn more, go to www.torontomemoryprogram.com.
About MediciGlobal Ltd.
MediciGlobal Ltd. is in the business of making a meaningful difference to patient health by identifying and engaging patients for clinical trials, and by building deep and lasting connections with its many stakeholders: patients, researchers, and pharmaceutical sponsors. MediciGlobal’s clinical trial recruitment practices are guided by global standards and by a concern for the lives of the patients who put their trust in the MediciGlobal team. MediciGlobal makes certain that those who participate in clinical trials fully understand what clinical trial participation means, and that their participation is guarded by strict privacy policies.
MediciGlobal is an industry leader in the use of social media and internet-based technologies to connect patients with physicians to clinical trials and advance new medicines. Its more than 30 Facebook communities exceed 1 million fans and more than 12 million visitors weekly. MediciGlobal meets BBB OnLine® and WBENC accreditation standards and is certified as a Safe Harbor company. Visit www.MediciGlobal.com to learn more.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mediciglobal-supports-taurx-sponsorship-of-meet-the-experts-event-at-international-conference-on-frontotemporal-dementias-818187336.html
SOURCE MediciGlobal
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