AV-101 is also being developed for epilepsy and neuropathic pain, however the company has observed that the drug can reduce the production of quinolinic acid, a neurotoxin produced in the brain and believed to be involved in the pathology of HD.
“High Q’s support will allow us to study further the utility of AV-101 for treating the cognitive and motor decline associated with a variety of neurological degenerative diseases, and potentially to add a third large indication for AV-101 as we move rapidly towards clinical trials,” said Dr Snodgrass, VistaGen’s President and CEO. “High Q’s support, in addition to the support we have received from the NIH and others, reinforces our belief that AV-101 has potentially broad clinical applications in the neurodegenerative area.”
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded VistaGen two grants totaling almost $4 million to complete preclinical development of AV- 101 for epilepsy and to support preclinical efficacy studies of AV-101 for neuropathic pain.
HD is a slowly progressing neurodegenerative disease, which affects approximately one in 10,000 people in most “western” countries. There is currently no effective therapy to slow the rate of progression of the neurological decline associated with the disease.