LAS VEGAS, May 29, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Samaritan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX:LIV), a developer of innovative drugs, announced today it has received a notice that the Australian patent application No. 31142/01, Title: Neurosteroids as Markers for Alzheimer's disease, has been issued.
One of the major problems, with the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases, is the inability of physicians to determine the onset of diseases, such as, Alzheimer's disease. Neurosteroids are steroids made locally in the brain and involved in critical brain functions. The most abundant neurosteroid is DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). In this invention, the mechanism underlying DHEA's synthesis is used to monitor changes in brain functions linked to Alzheimer's disease pathology. In response to a chemical treatment, a clinician can identify changes in blood DHEA levels and it gives the clinician the ability to detect oxidative stress in the brain before symptoms appear, thus, giving physicians an early warning of Alzheimer's and the ability to proactively treat most neurodegenerative diseases, before they become debilitating to patients.
Currently, this is done by a combination of MRI scans, to look for generalized shrinkage of the brain and cognitive tests to determine a patient's state of dementia. Typically physical symptoms do not occur until very late in the disease process when memory loss is apparent.
The patent has been awarded to Georgetown University and is exclusively licensed to Samaritan.
See peer reviewed journal publications:
http://www.samaritanpharma.com/publications_and_patents.asp
Samaritan Pharmaceuticals: "Transforming Today's Science Into Tomorrow's Cures..."
Samaritan Pharmaceuticals is an entrepreneurial biopharmaceutical company, focused on commercializing innovative therapeutic products, to relieve the suffering of patients with Alzheimer's disease, Acute Coronary Disease, Cancer, HIV, and Hepatitis-C. Samaritan out-licensed its "oral" HIV viral-entry inhibitor for "HIV drug resistance" to Pharmaplaz, Ireland. Samaritan has been issued an IND for Caprospinol, its proprietary drug to treat memory loss in Alzheimer's disease patients. Samaritan also has several drugs in nonclinical studies preparing for IND development; it is evaluating the use of SP-1000 for acute coronary disease patients and the use of SP-10T1 as an "oral treatment" for Hepatitis-C. In addition, Samaritan has acquired the marketing and sales rights to sell ten revenue-generating products in Greece and/or various Eastern European countries.
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The company disclaims any information that is created by an outside party and endorses only information that is communicated by its press releases, filings, and Website. This news release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current beliefs about the potential for its drug candidates, science, and technology. However, as with any biopharmaceutical under development, there are significant risks and uncertainties in the process of development and regulatory review. There are no guarantees that products will prove to be commercially successful. For additional information about the factors that affect the company's business, please read the company's latest Form 10-K filed April 13, 2007. The company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.