Greetings All,
I was doing a little DD on DR. Charlotte Keywood and came across several items I found interesting.
1) Both Dr. Keywood and our Mark Wakefield come to AMBS from Addex Pharmaceuticals.
2) Addex is based in Geneva, Switzerland, where we located our European office.
3) Addex is currently entering into phase 2b clinical trials for Levodopa-induced Dyskinesia in PD with its lead pipeline therapeutic dipraglurant (mGluR5).
4) dipraglurant is a collaborative study being funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF)(although the article below stated something about it being for a phase I receptor occupancy study).
5). Addex has a working relationship with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (but with a different therapeutic).
I highlighted the topics to which I refered so you can easily scan them.
http://www.amarantus.com/about/management-team
http://www.addextherapeutics.com/investors/pr...ic-update/
It is very curious why Dr. Keywood would leave Addex for Ambs just when dipraglurant is just entering phase 2b. Perhaps she sees more potential in Eltoprazine than dipraglurant; or perhaps there is some sort of collaboration in the works. The scientific data is too thick for me to draw any conclusion here, or even a wild guess, but she does seem the most qualified candidate to lead the Elto project. (i.e. clinical developement, phase 2b experience, experience with Janssen & MJFF)
I also suspect we will be hearing something about our Sept. 29 pre-IND inquiry with the FDA for our phase 2b Elto trial when she presents on the 13th.
I haven't heard too much from Mark Wakefield, it appears he has been lurking about in the shadows of Europe.
It does seem though we will be competing with Addex for the PD-LID market, and perhaps even for granting from the MJFF.
Very curious indeed, I thought you'd like to see it.
Best,
Hoosier
I was doing a little DD on DR. Charlotte Keywood and came across several items I found interesting.
1) Both Dr. Keywood and our Mark Wakefield come to AMBS from Addex Pharmaceuticals.
2) Addex is based in Geneva, Switzerland, where we located our European office.
3) Addex is currently entering into phase 2b clinical trials for Levodopa-induced Dyskinesia in PD with its lead pipeline therapeutic dipraglurant (mGluR5).
4) dipraglurant is a collaborative study being funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF)(although the article below stated something about it being for a phase I receptor occupancy study).
5). Addex has a working relationship with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (but with a different therapeutic).
I highlighted the topics to which I refered so you can easily scan them.
Quote:Charlotte Keywood, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Therapeutics Division
Charlotte Keywood, MD
Dr. Keywood's experience in the pharmaceutical industry includes running European and US pre- and post-registration clinical development programs across a broad range of therapeutic areas, as well as medical marketing and pharmacovigilance activities. Most recently, she was CMO at Addex Pharma , for ten years, overseeing clinical development of the company's allosteric modulator programs. Dr. Keywood served from 2001 to 2003 as medical director for Axovan, a Swiss biotech company that was acquired by Actelion in 2003. From 1996 to 2001 she was medical director at Vernalis, where she helped bring a new migraine drug, Frova frovatriptan, to the market. From 1991 to 1996 she was medical director of the European subsidiary of US biotechnology company Gensia. Dr Keywood is a cardiologist who completed her post-graduate training at St Thomas' Hospital, London.
Quote:Mark Wakefield
Head of Clinical Development
Mark Wakefield
Mark Wakefield brings over 15 years of experience to Amarantus across large pharma, vaccines & biotech, of which the last 8+ years were focused on establishing and implementing development strategies, as Head of Clinical Development Operations at Addex Pharma SA (Switzerland), where he was responsible for the execution of multi-national (US & EU) trials. Between 2000 and 2005 he coordinated the public-private partnering between Chiron Vaccines (Italy), Norwegian Institute for Public Health and the New Zealand Ministry of Health and was responsible for the operational execution of the clinical development program, which lead to the successful development and roll-out of MeNZBTM vaccine. From 1998-2000, he was involved in running a large phase 3b cardiovascular study, for Astra, in the Netherlands.
Mr. Wakefield graduated from the University of Amsterdam, where he studied chemistry, with a specialization in biochemistry, in the section Medical Enzymology and Metabolism, E.C. Slater Institute for Biochemical Research, under Prof. J.M. Tager, with an emphasis on the routing of newly synthesized molecules and organelle formation. PhD research on neurotrophic factors during brain development, were done under Dr. R. Balázs, at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research (now NINS).
http://www.amarantus.com/about/management-team
Quote:Addex Completes 2014 with Strong Cash Position and Provides 2015 Strategic Update
Geneva, Switzerland, 9 January 2015 – Addex Therapeutics (SIX: ADXN), a leading company pioneering allosteric modulation-based drug discovery and development announced today:
Financial Update
Addex completed 2014 with cash and cash equivalence of CHF1.8 million as of 31 December 2014 (2013: CHF2.9 million) and a full year 2014 cash utilization of CHF1.1 million (2013: CHF12.3 million).
Pipeline Update
Dipraglurant (mGluR5NAM):
Planning to start a phase 1 receptor occupancy study in collaboration with Dean F Wong , MD, PhD of the Departments of Radiology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University and his collaborators Lorena Gapasin and Hiroto Kuwabara, MD, PhD supported by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF);
Planning clinical testing of the therapeutic effect of dipraglurant in patients with dystonia in collaboration with Professor Dressler of The Hannover Medical School;
Preclinical characterization in DYT1 dystonia planned for completion in 2015 in collaboration with Dr Pisani of the IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation; and
Preclinical characterization of anti-depressant-like effects in biochemical and behavioral models is ongoing in collaboration with Professor Pilc and Dr. A. Palucha-Poniewiera of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
mGluR7NAM and mGluR4PAM: preclinical characterization in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorder models in collaboration with the “Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne” and “University de Lausanne” is ongoing.
ADX71441 (GABAB receptor PAM):
Preclinical characterization in Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A neuropathy models is ongoing in collaboration with the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA);
Preclinical characterization in nicotine and cocaine addiction models is ongoing in collaboration with the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); and
Preclinical characterization in alcohol use disorder models planned for completion in 2015 in collaboration with the United States National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
mGluR2NAM: neuroprotection experiments in preclinical models of ischemic damage are ongoing in collaboration with Professors G. Battaglia and F. Nicoletti of Neuromed, Italy (Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo).
Strategy Update and Outlook
Addex continues to engage potential pharmaceutical partners, patient advocacy groups, academic institutions, government organization and investors to secure the resources necessary to advance its pipeline of drug candidates for the benefit of patients.
“We are pleased to have significantly reduced our cash burn and completed 2014 with sufficient cash reserves to see us into 2016,” said Tim Dyer, CEO at Addex. “We thank our collaboration partners for the excellent work they are performing and look forward to reporting data in the coming months. In addition we look forward to establishing new collaborations in 2015 to further advance our exciting pipeline of drug candidates.”
About Addex Therapeutics
Addex Therapeutics (www.addextherapeutics.com) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally available, small molecule allosteric modulators for central nervous system disorders. Addex lead drug candidate, dipraglurant (mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator or NAM) has successfully completed a Phase 2A POC in Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID), and is being prepared to enter Phase 2B for PD-LID. In parallel, dipraglurant’s therapeutic use in dystonia and treatment resistant depression is being investigated. Addex second clinical program, ADX71149 (mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator or PAM) is being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals , Inc. Addex also has several preclinical programs including: ADX71441 (GABAB receptor PAM) which has received regulatory approval to start Phase 1 and is being investigated for therapeutic use in Charcot-Marie-Tooth (type 1a) disease, alcohol use disorder and nicotine dependence; mGluR4PAM for drug abuse and dependence, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases; mGluR2NAM for treatment resistant depression and cognitive deficits; mGluR7NAM for psychosomatic disorders, TrkBPAM for neurodegenerative disorders; and GLP1PAM for type 2 diabetes. Allosteric modulators are an emerging class of small molecule drugs which have the potential to be more specific and confer significant therapeutic advantages over conventional "orthosteric" small molecule or biological drugs. Addex allosteric modulator drug discovery platform targets receptors and other proteins that are recognized as essential for therapeutic intervention – the Addex pipeline was generated from this pioneering allosteric modulator drug discovery platform.
http://www.addextherapeutics.com/investors/pr...ic-update/
It is very curious why Dr. Keywood would leave Addex for Ambs just when dipraglurant is just entering phase 2b. Perhaps she sees more potential in Eltoprazine than dipraglurant; or perhaps there is some sort of collaboration in the works. The scientific data is too thick for me to draw any conclusion here, or even a wild guess, but she does seem the most qualified candidate to lead the Elto project. (i.e. clinical developement, phase 2b experience, experience with Janssen & MJFF)
I also suspect we will be hearing something about our Sept. 29 pre-IND inquiry with the FDA for our phase 2b Elto trial when she presents on the 13th.
I haven't heard too much from Mark Wakefield, it appears he has been lurking about in the shadows of Europe.
It does seem though we will be competing with Addex for the PD-LID market, and perhaps even for granting from the MJFF.
Very curious indeed, I thought you'd like to see it.
Best,
Hoosier
