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news.A study at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has demonstrated in a unique primate model that the Ampakine CX717, a member of a novel class of pharmaceuticals under development at Cortex Pharmaceuticals, improved cognitive performance and also reversed the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
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This research at Wake Forest provided the basis for conducting the phase II sleep deprivation study in humans, which confirmed CX717 improved wakefulness, memory, cognition and attention without causing systemic stimulation in subjects that were sleep deprived.
The study results dovetail closely with Cortex Pharmaceuticals’ own ongoing clinical studies. Improved attention in the primates receiving CX717 in the Wake Forest study, as indicated by shorter response times, bodes well for the 60 patients in a three week CX717 Attention Deficit (ADHD) trial and the 45 subjects in the Night-Shift Work Study underway and sponsored by Cortex and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
“The Wake Forest primate model led to predictions relevant to human task performance under conditions of sleep deprivation and circadian rhythm disruption. We are now testing those predictions in humans in clinical settings using CX717 and preliminary results are very encouraging,” said Dr Roger Stoll, chairman, president and CEO of Cortex.
According to the company, Ampakine drugs act to increase the strength of signals at key connections between brain cells. The weakening or loss of these connections is thought to be responsible for memory difficulties and disorders associated with both neurological and psychological diseases. The Ampakine CX717 amplifies signals in the brain, like a hearing aid does for the hearing impaired, making it easier to encode new information.