PITTSBURGH, Aug. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cognition Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage neuroscience company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurocognitive disorders, today announced that an oral presentation had been made at the American Chemical Society National Meeting highlighting the company’s phenotypic neuronal assay that has been successful at identifying orally available, highly brain-penetrant small molecule drug candidates for Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. The company’s lead product candidate, CT1812, was discovered by Cognition scientists using this neuronal screen.
“Our proprietary phenotypic neuronal assay is a powerful engine for discovering small molecule drug candidates that act against toxic proteins implicated in neurological diseases,” stated Cognition’s Chief Scientific Officer Susan Catalano, Ph.D. “By employing this assay, we have identified structurally distinct compounds that have been shown to protect synapses from the neuronal toxicity of amyloid beta (Aß) oligomers. Among these was CT1812, a specific antagonist of the sigma-2 receptor complex.”
The sigma-2 complex has been shown to be closely associated with the neuronal receptors that bind Aß oligomers; and this binding of Aß oligomers to neuronal receptors has been shown to cause synapse loss and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence exists that by targeting the sigma-2 receptor complex, Aß oligomers can be displaced and prevented from further binding via allosteric interference, and the displaced oligomers are then cleared into the cerebral spinal fluid.
The ACS presentation, titled: Allosteric antagonists of sigma-2/PGRMC1 complex: Brain penetrant orally active amyloid oligomer-displacing agents for the treatment and prevention of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, was made on August 23, 2017 at the 254th ACS National Meeting in Washington, DC.
About Cognition Therapeutics, Inc.
Cognition Therapeutics (CogRx) is a privately held biopharmaceutical company whose disease-relevant screening and novel chemistry platforms have produced a pipeline of disease modifying small molecule drug candidates which are being developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease and potentially other neurocognitive disorders. Cognition’s lead molecule, CT1812, is a proprietary first-in-class, orally available small molecule. This highly brain penetrant compound targets the sigma-2 receptor complex, displacing toxic beta amyloid oligomers from their binding sites on brain cells and clearing them into the cerebrospinal fluid. CT1812 has been shown in multiple Alzheimer’s disease models to stop memory loss. In Cognition’s recently completed Study COG0102, patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease were randomized to one of three doses of CT1812 or placebo, and dosed for 28 days to help evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of CT1812. Detailed results of this Phase 1b/2 study are anticipated to be announced at the CTAD (Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s disease) meeting in Boston in November 2017. Additional information about Cognition may be found online at http://www.cogrx.com.
Cognition Therapeutics info@cogrx.com Aline Sherwood Scienta Communications asherwood@scientapr.com
