SanBio: Joint Research Agreement for SB623 Targeting Dementia

Dementia is a condition in which brain cells die or become functionally defective, interfering with higher cerebral functions such as memory and language, and causing problems for patients in their daily lives. The most common cause of dementia is central nervous system degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia (LBD), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), in which the brain’s nerve cells slowly die. The next most common cause is vascular dementia, which is triggered by damage to the nerve cells of the brain as a result of cerebrovascular disorders such as stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. According to a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey, the number of dementia patients is increasing because of Japan’s surging elderly population and is expected to reach six million in 2020.

In development programs for proprietary regenerative cell medicine SB623, SanBio has been conducting clinical trials for chronic stroke in the U.S. and chronic traumatic brain injury in Japan and the U.S. SB623 consists of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult bone marrow that undergo a genetic modification. It releases various growth factors and promotes nerve cell regeneration when administered to the injury site caused by stroke or traumatic brain injury, and is considered a stem cell therapy that could bring back lost functions. In laboratory studies that administered SB623 to the brains of stroke mice models, migration of neural stem cells to the injury site, multiplication of nerve cells, and vasculogenesis were observed.

The joint research project with the Physiology Department, Graduate School of Medicine, Keio University led by Professor Hideyuki Okano aims to obtain the data required for progressing to the clinical trials stage of SB623 by evaluating the therapeutic effects of SB623 in dementia model animals. SanBio will develop SB623 as a treatment for dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease and cerebral vascular dementia through such collaboration.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180723005241/en/