CereSpir Incorporated Announces the Inauguration of Its Clinical Advisory Board

The Advisory Board Includes Internationally Recognized Clinicians and Researchers in Alzheimer's Disease


NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CereSpir™ Incorporated, a company developing the first-in-class microglial modulator CHF 5074 as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD), today announced the inauguration of its Clinical Advisory Board (CAB). Rachelle Doody, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, is serving as Chair of the Board. The Advisory Board also includes Steven H. Ferris, PhD, New York University Langone Medical Center; Michael Grundman, MD, MPH, President and CEO, Global R&D Partners, LLC; Eric M. Reiman, MD, Executive Director, Banner Alzheimer's Institute; and Lon S. Schneider, MD, MS, Keck School of Medicine of USC. 

"Today we inaugurated CereSpir's Clinical Advisory Board, which will provide valuable input regarding our development plan for CHF5074, particularly our Phase 3 program in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD and preclinical AD.  The CAB members are experts in Alzheimer's disease and strategies to develop effective treatments for the disease, and many have been involved in CHF 5074's development," stated Daniel G. Chain, PhD, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of CereSpir. "I have been particularly struck by Dr. Doody's ability to ask probing questions and synthesize understanding from disparate views of complex issues. She will make an excellent chair for CereSpir's Clinical Advisory Board." 

"I am very pleased to be working with CereSpir and my colleagues who are extremely dedicated to finding a way to slow or stop the Alzheimer's disease in its various stages," commented Dr. Doody. "CHF 5074 is a unique compound, and my colleagues and I are committed to helping CereSpir complete the final stages of its clinical development. If the studies prove positive, CHF 5074, CereSpir, and this Advisory Board will have made a significant contribution to reducing the terrible burden AD represents for patients, their families, and society."

Dr. Doody is the Effie Marie Cain Chair in Alzheimer's Disease Research and Professor of Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, and she directs the Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Baylor College of Medicine.  She has published over 170 original articles on the diagnosis, progression, or treatment of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.  

Dr. Ferris is the Gerald D. and Dorothy R. Friedman Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the NIA-supported Alzheimer Disease Center of the Center on Brain Aging at New York University Langone Medical Center.  He also directs the Center's Clinical Trials Program.  He has contributed more than 250 scientific publications to the field, including a focus on age-related cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and the early detection of preclinical AD.

Dr. Grundman is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Global R&D Partners, LLC, a leading consulting firm that works closely with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop novel agents for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other serious and life threatening neurodegenerative diseases.  He lectures frequently at national and international scientific meetings and has published over 80 articles related to Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Dr. Reiman is Executive Director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute, Chief Executive Officer for Banner Research, Clinical Director of the Neurogenomics Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, and Director of the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium.  He is an author of more than 250 publications, principal investigator of several NIH research grants, director of an NIH-sponsored AD Center, a leader of the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative (API), and a recipient of the Potamkin Prize for his contributions to AD research.

Dr. Schneider is professor of psychiatry, neurology, and gerontology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Davis School of Gerontology of USC. He directs the USC California Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Center and the clinical core of the NIA-supported Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He is an associate editor or section editor of several respected scientific journals, including Alzheimer's & Dementia, BMC-Psychiatry, the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, and Current Alzheimer Research, and has contributed more than 250 scientific publications to the field.

About CHF 5074

CHF 5074 is a small molecule with a unique mechanism of action involving microglial modulation. Evidence suggests CHF 5074 selectively reduces the pro-inflammatory activity of these cells while increasing their ability to remove neurotoxic beta amyloid aggregates in the brain by phagocytosis.  Microglia are small cells that travel through the brain to remove waste products, such as amyloid aggregates that cause inflammation and irreversible damage to nerve cells.  Chronic microglial dysfunction is increasingly believed to play an important role in Alzheimer's disease, especially in its earliest stage. 

In Alzheimer's disease transgenic mouse models, CHF 5074 reduces neuroinflammation, inhibits brain amyloid β plaque deposits, reduces tau-related pathology, and reverses associated memory deficits.  These findings indicate CHF 5074 acts simultaneously on several important therapeutic targets, and this neuroprotective multi-target approach may reduce or prevent the memory loss that is the hallmark of AD.  To date CHF 5074 has been developed by Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA. Chiesi's clinical studies, including a completed Phase 2 trial in MCI, corroborate a large body of data from published preclinical studies. 

About CereSpir Incorporated

CereSpir is dedicated to preserving the primary essence of each person, his or her memories.  The Company is developing CHF 5074, a first-in-class small molecule that is believed to act primarily as a microglial modulator, as a potential treatment for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). CereSpir will complete CHF 5074's Phase 3 development program to determine whether it can become the first approved therapy for MCI and/or preclinical AD. CereSpir holds the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to CHF 5074 from Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. 


            

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