NeuroSearch announces new findings from the MermaiHD Phase III study supporting potential disease modifying properties of Huntexil®

- As a consequence, NeuroSearch expands its intellectual property through the
filing of an additional patent application covering these new discoveries 

Copenhagen, 8 March 2010 - NeuroSearch (NEUR) today announced that further
analysis of the data from the MermaiHD study with Huntexil® (pridopidine) for
the treatment of Huntington's disease supports potential disease modifying
properties of the drug. 

Top line results from the MermaiHD study, a six months European Phase III study
in 437 patients with Huntington's disease, was announced and presented in the
beginning of February, showing that treatment with Huntexil® significantly
improves patients' motor function with effects seen on both the voluntary and
involuntary motor symptoms associated with the disease. 

Additional analysis of results from the study shows that Huntexil® not only has
symptomatic effect, but also appears to slow the underlying disease progression
depending on the patients' disease-genotype. In line with recently published
academic findings (Aziz et al., 2009, Ravina et al., 2008), data from the
placebo treated patient group in the MermaiHD study confirm a strong
correlation between the length of the Huntington's disease gene and the rate of
symptoms progression. The more CAG repeats there are in the gene, the faster is
the progression of clinical symptoms. In the Huntexil® treated patients the CAG
dependent rate of motor symptoms progression as observed in the placebo group,
was not apparent, lending support to the drug's ability to potentially modify
the underlying disease progression. 

Following these important additional findings, NeuroSearch has filed a patent
application covering the ability of Huntexil® to slow down the progression of
disease in symptomatic Huntington patients as well as prevent the occurrence of
symptoms in pre-manifest subjects. The patent application describes the
discovery that Huntexil®, in addition to its ability to reduce symptoms as
previously shown, demonstrates disease modifying properties. The patent
application also covers other proprietary compounds in NeuroSearch's portfolio
of dopaminergic stabilizers. 

Professor Justo García de Yébenez, Hospital Ramon y Cajal, Madrid, Spain and
primary investigator in the MermaiHD study, commented; 

“The new findings from the MermaiHD study pointing towards a potential disease
modifying impact from treatment with Huntexil® are very important. Apart from
offering an improvement of symptoms associated with the disease, ability to
slow the underlying disease progression would be a tremendous step forward in
the treatment of Huntington patients, potentially starting already at the
pre-symptomatic stage. I am looking forward to working together with
NeuroSearch to further investigate the full potential of Huntexil®.” 

NeuroSearch continues the dedicated work to further analyse the data from the
MermaiHD study and from other clinical studies once data are available and with
the aim of exploring the properties of Huntexil® both as an effective and safe
treatment of some of the most burdensome symptoms of Huntington's disease and
as a potential means of slowing down the natural disease progression. 


Flemming Pedersen
CEO


Contact persons:

Flemming Pedersen, CEO, telephone: + 45 4460 8214 or cell +45 2148 0118

Hanne Leth Hillman, Vice President, Director of Investor & Capital Market
Relations, telephone: +45 4460 8212 or cell +45 4017 5103 


References
Aziz et al., "Normal and mutant HTT interact to affect clinical severity and
progression in Huntington's disease"; Neurology, 2009; 73; 1280-1285 

Ravina et al., "The Relationship Between CAG Repeat Length and Clinical
Progression in Huntington's Disease"; Movement Disorders, vol. 23, No. 9, 2008,
pp. 1223-1227 



About the MermaiHD study 
The MermaiHD study is a randomised, double-blinded and placebo-controlled Phase
III study conducted at 32 clinical centres across Europe to examine the effects
of Huntexil® on a number of Huntington's disease parameters. 

The study has enrolled 437 patients with Huntington's disease from Austria,
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK. The patients have
been randomly allocated to receive treatment with one of two Huntexil® doses
(45 mg. once or twice daily) or placebo during a 6-month double-blinded phase.
Hereafter, they have been offered to continue into a 6-month open-label
extension phase, in which they receive treatment with 45 mg. Huntexil® twice
daily, only. The last patient completed the double-blinded phase in November
2009, and of the total number of patients having completed 6 month of
randomised treatment, almost 90% have chosen to continue into the open-label
extension phase. 

The primary study endpoint is voluntary motor function in Huntington patients,
measured on the modified Motor Score (mMS), The mMS is defined as the sum score
of voluntary motor items from the Total Motor Score (TMS), The TMS is part of
the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS), encompassing the full
range of motor symptoms associated with the disease, including both voluntary
motor function (mMS and eye movements) and involuntary movements such as
dystonia and chorea. TMS is also included as endpoint in the study. Other
endpoints include cognitive function, behaviour and symptoms of depression and
anxiety. 

About Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease is a highly disabling, hereditary neurodegenerative
genetic disorder, which leads to damage of the nerve cells in certain areas of
the brain including the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortex. 

The disease occurs at a rate of about one in every 10,000 in most western
countries with an estimated 70,000 affected patients in North America and
Europe combined. In other parts of the world, the disease prevalence varies
substantially among geographic regions and is generally lower. The total number
of patients outside North America and Europe is estimated to be in the range of
30,000 to 35,000. 
 
Patients with Huntington's disease experience a wide variety of symptoms
typically grouped into three categories: motor, cognitive and psychiatric
symptoms. The onset of symptoms is typically around 35 and 45 years of age, and
patients hereafter deteriorate gradually with a life expectancy of 10 to 20
years. Eventually every person with Huntington's disease will require full-time
care. Huntington's disease represents high unmet medical needs, as there is
currently no cure or effective treatment available and only a limited number of
novel drugs in development. 


About NeuroSearch - Company profile
NeuroSearch (NEUR) is a Scandinavian biopharmaceutical company listed on NASDAQ
OMX Copenhagen A/S. The core business of the company covers the development of
novel pharmaceutical agents, based on a broad and well-established drug
discovery platform, focusing on ion channels and central nervous system (CNS)
disorders. A substantial share of the activities is partner financed through
strategic alliances with Janssen Pharmaceutica, Eli Lilly and Company and
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and a license collaboration with Abbott. The drug
pipeline comprises eight clinical (Phase I-III) development programmes:
Huntexil® (pridopidine) for Huntington's disease (Phase III), tesofensine for
obesity (ready for Phase III), ABT-894 for ADHD (Phase II) in partnership with
Abbott, ACR343 for schizophrenia (ready for Phase II), ACR325 to treat
dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease (Phase Ib), ABT-560 for the treatment of
cognitive dysfunctions (Phase I) in collaboration with Abbott, NSD-788 for
anxiety/depression (Phase I) and NSD-721 for social anxiety disorder (Phase I)
in partnership with GSK. In addition, NeuroSearch has a broad portfolio of
preclinical drug candidates and holds equity interests in several biotech
companies.