ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Adlyfe, a private company developing novel biomarkers and diagnostic tests for amyloid diseases, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, to develop biomarker assays designed to measure levels of beta amyloid in the human brain. The companies will develop assays for specific beta amyloid targets for use in facilitating the development of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The multiyear agreement included an upfront payment and specific future milestone payments. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Chief Executive Officer Alan S. Rudolph, Ph.D., MBA said, “This agreement is a strong statement on the potential of Adlyfe’s Pronucleon(TM) technology. This partnership will enable us to move faster in developing our assay, which could serve as an important tool in assessing the efficacy of amyloid-targeted therapies.”
Burrill LLC served as financial advisor to Adlyfe in this transaction.
About Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration together with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. It is the most common type of dementia. As the disorder progresses, cognitive impairment extends to the domains of language, skilled movements, recognition, and those functions closely related to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. This pathological process consists principally of neuronal loss or atrophy, principally in the temporoparietal cortex but also in the frontal cortex, together with an inflammatory response to the deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. According to the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, as many as 5.5 million Americans presently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.
About Adlyfe
Adlyfe Inc. was established early in 2003 to develop novel technologies for blood testing for early targets of amyloid diseases. Adlyfe is developing a novel test for the detection and amplification of amyloid proteins as early biomarkers of fatal brain and amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, Huntington’s disease, systemic amyloidosis, diabetes and other diseases. Adlyfe is currently capitalized through generous investment from U.S. and international government sponsors and Burrill & Company and Canaan Venture Partners.
The Company’s novel technology is based on the synthesis of small peptides, or Pronucleon(TM) peptides, that are amino acid sequence matched to target amyloids of interest. Ligand sequences are selected based on regions of the target protein known to undergo conformational changes (structural changes in shape) associated with amyloid aggregation (and eventual amyloid plaque formation). These aggregates are associated with disease state progression in a number of brain-wasting and amyloid diseases. Pronucleon(TM) peptides have also been shown to cross the blood brain barrier when administered intravenously in animals and image amyloid aggregates in the brain.
Internet Website: www.adlyfe.com
CONTACT: Cindy Miller of Adlyfe Inc., +1-301-424-8344, cmiller@adlyfe.com
Web site: http://www.adlyfe.com/
