Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.XenoPort has received a grant from The Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) for Parkinson's Research to support a preclinical study of the efficacy and safety of a new, orally administered prodrug of Acamprosate in reducing L-Dopa induced dyskinesias (LID) in a pre-clinical model of Parkinson's disease.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
The grant of $194,000 was awarded under the Foundation’s Therapeutics Development Initiative Fall 2010 Program.
MJFF Research Partnerships vice president Sohini Chowdhury said that levodopa-induced dyskinesia is a high-priority research area for The Michael J Fox Foundation.
"We are enthusiastic about partnering in XenoPort’s preclinical acamprosate prodrug program and are hopeful that this effort will help to speed progress toward a breakthrough treatment for dyskinesia," Chowdhury said.
XenoPort’s award from MJFF will support a preclinical study that will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at The Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, California to evaluate the effectiveness of XenoPort’s acamprosate prodrug to inhibit LID.
XenoPort stated that Acamprosate calcium has been shown to inhibit glutamate release and is used clinically for the treatment of alcohol relapse, but the current formulation of acamprosate has low oral bioavailability and can cause gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances (emesis and nausea) following administration.
XenoPort claimed that, to address these limitations, it has designed a new prodrug of Acamprosate that appears to be more readily absorbed after oral administration which allows a similar or higher exposure to Acamprosate to be achieved with a lower dose.
XenoPort said that in addition to evaluating inhibition of LID, the study is designed to confirm that the potential anti-LID efficacy of Acamprosate does not interfere with the anti-parkinsonian effect of L-Dopa treatment.
XenoPort CEO Ronald Barrett said that they were pleased to be the recipient of MJFF award.
"This enables us to extend our preclinical studies of this new Acamprosate prodrug, which we hope will validate this approach to reducing LID in patients with Parkinson’s disease," Barrett said.