Welcome to your daily round up of everything happening in the world of neurorehab.
Research
Latest data on Alzheimer’s drug development
The latest Alzheimer’s drug development pipeline has been published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions. According to this year’s data, there are 164 active trials and 127 unique treatments, a roughly 10% decrease from the previous year that saw a record-high 187 active trials and 141 unique treatments.
The database of all clinical trials results was established in 2016 by Dr Jeffrey Cummings, who leads the Alzheimer’s drug development observatory within UNLV’s Department of Brain Health.
Global consortium to study Pick’s disease
Pick’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease of unknown genetic origin, is a rare type of frontotemporal dementia that affects people under the age of 65.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida, University College London in England and collaborators worldwide have established the Pick’s Disease International Consortium to study a specific MAPT gene variation known as MAPT H2 that makes the tau protein and acts as a driver of disease. They investigated a connection between the gene and disease risk, age at onset, and duration of Pick’s disease.
Role of genetic variations and long-term pesticide exposure in Parkinson’s
A new UCLA Health study found certain genetic variants could help explain how long-term pesticide exposure could increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease. The new study, published in the journal NPJ Parkinson’s Disease, used genetic data from nearly 800 Central Valley (California) residents with Parkinson’s disease, many of whom had long-term exposure to 10 pesticides used on cotton crops for at least a decade prior to developing the disease, with some patients having been exposed as far back as 1974.
Technology
Researchers from Drexel University’s Creativity Research Lab have developed an artificial intelligence technique that can effectively estimate an individual’s brain age based on electroencephalogram (EEG) brain scans. The technology could help to make early, regular screening for degenerative brain diseases more accessible.
Company updates
Tiziana reports positive neuroimaging scores in multiple sclerosis study
Tiziana Life Sciences has published quantitative data showing improvement in White Matter Z-scores measured from PET images taken at 3 months in nasal foralumab treated patients with non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (na-SPMS). White Matter Z-scores are a statistical measure used in neuroimaging studies to assess the integrity or abnormalities in structures of the brain.
DiagnaMed’s BRAIN AGE® reaches clinical validation milestone
DiagnaMed announced a clinical validation milestone of the BRAIN AGE® Brain Health AI Platform, a world-first consumer brain health and wellness AI solution that estimates brain age and provides a brain health score, with a first-of-a-kind peer-reviewed paper in Frontiers in Neuroergonomics.
Cerevance adds $47 Million to advance robust clinical pipeline
Cerevance, a company focused on developing precision novel therapeutics for central nervous system diseases, announced an initial closing of its Series B-1 Extension financing round that will add $47 million to the $51 million previously raised bringing the total Series B-1 raise to $98 million.
