BALTIMORE, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- FASgen is pleased to announce the recent publication of important results from research into a potential treatment for stroke using one of FASgen's proprietary compounds, C75. The Company is a leader in the research in the field of FASi (fatty acid synthase inhibition). One area of that research has been for the treatment of metabolic disease disorders, including obesity. As the regulation of appetite is centered in the hypothalamus in the brain, research was undertaken to evaluate the safety of the Company's compounds in the brain. An unexpected and significant discovery resulted when the studies demonstrated not only that the compounds were non-toxic in the brain, but also they had the positive effect of providing significant neuroprotection in the case of ischemic stroke. In the stroke models tested, the Company's compound C-75 reduced AMPK levels and resulted in neuroprotection by reduced stroke damage, even when administered poststroke. These remarkable findings were recently published in the article, "Neuroprotective Effects of Adenosine Monophosphate-Activated Protein Kinase Inhibition and Gene Deletion in Stroke," McCullough et al, Stroke 2007, 38; 2992-2999 (December 11, 2007).
About FASgen, Inc.: FASgen, Inc. is a drug development company founded in 2000 by four distinguished Johns Hopkins researchers to create new therapeutic products based on the selective inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis. The Company has the exclusive license from Johns Hopkins to more than 15 years of research in the field, which research continues under a sponsored research agreement with the University.
The Company has designed and synthesized many compounds that selectively inhibit fatty acid biosynthesis. One group of these compounds holds great promise for new highly specific therapeutics for cancer; additional compounds have the potential of specific therapeutics for obesity and related metabolic disorders; and, an additional group of compounds have the potential of specific therapeutics for TB, including multiple drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and latent TB infections that affect one third of the world's population. For more information, visit FASgen's website at www.fasgen.com
CONTACT: Pamela Spangler for FASgen, Inc., +1-410-558-9200
Web site: http://www.fasgen.com/
