2015年1月20日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --随着时间的推移，世界上许多国家都逐渐进入了老龄化社会的发展阶段。除了面对极大的养老压力以外，一些老年性疾病也成为困扰各国健康部门和生物医药产业的一个难题。这其中，以帕金森症为代表的神经退行性疾病就是最令人头痛的一个。所谓帕金森症，是一种神经退行性疾病，它可以造成患者出现震颤、肌肉僵硬、动作缓慢等等症状，这主要是与大脑中一种分泌多巴胺的细胞数量减少直接相关。
目前，科学家们尚没有办法治愈这种疾病，仅能通过药物缓解这种疾病的症状。据估计，世界上目前约有1000万人美国目前有一百万人患有这种疾病，而每年还有6万例新增病例出现。因此，市场迫切需要有新疗法来缓解这一问题。
最近，比利时的生物医药公司UCB公司与美国圣迭戈市的Neuropore公司签订了一份价值4亿8千万美元的协议，用于联合进行治疗帕金森症新型疗法的早期研究。此次双方合作的药物项目是NPT200-11，这种药物目前处于临床前研究，其作用的主要靶点是一种名为α-突触核蛋白的蛋白，现有研究显示，这种蛋白的错误折叠会导致帕金森症的出现。在动物模型中，这种药物已经表现出良好的治疗效果。
双方计划于今年晚些时候启动首个临床试验。UCB的技术人员介绍，对于帕金森症，目前还没有行之有效的治疗方案。而一些主流治疗方案如左旋多巴也仅仅是控制患者的不自主的运动症状。研究人员希望通过他们的研究，能够减轻目前帕金森症患者的痛苦。
详细英文报道：
Belgian drugmaker UCB has inked a $480 million deal to team up with Neuropore Therapies on some early-stage treatments for Parkinson's disease.
Neuropore, headquartered in San Diego, is due $20 million up front and in line for $460 million more in incentives through the life of the deal. The pair's top target is NPT200-11, a preclinical drug designed to stabilize the common brain protein alpha synuclein, whose misfolding is related to Parkinson's.
The drug has shown promise in preclinical studies and animal models, Neuropore said, and now UCB is on board to kick off its first human trials later this year.
About 10 million people suffer from Parkinson's around the world, UCB said, and current treatments, like the common levodopa and carbidopa, manage only its motor symptoms, creating a huge unmet need for therapies that target the disease's root causes.
"People living with Parkinson's disease need better treatment options, especially as there is currently no approved treatment that addresses a fundamental pathological mechanism in Parkinson's disease," UCB New Medicines President Ismail Kola said in a statement. "With Neuropore's NPT200-11, we have the opportunity to develop a disease modifying treatment option for patients with Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies."
Beyond its top asset, Neuropore is at work on early-stage small-molecule treatments targeting amyloid beta proteins and cell autophagy as pathways for battling Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.