The dopamine system in the midbrain is essential for volitional movement, action selection, and reward-related learning. Despite its versatile roles, it contains only a small set of neurons in the brainstem. These dopamine neurons are especially susceptible to Parkinson's disease and prematurely degenerate in the course of disease progression, while the discovery of new therapeutic [...]
Deposition of hyperphosphorylated and aggregated tau protein in the central nervous system is characteristic of Alzheimer disease and other tauopathies. Tau is subject to O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification, and O-GlcNAcylation of tau has been shown to influence tau phosphorylation and aggregation. Inhibition of O-GlcNAcase (OGA), the enzyme that removes O-GlcNAc moieties, is a novel strategy [...]
Inhibition of O-GlcNAcase (OGA) has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach to treat tau pathology in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy. Beginning with carbohydrate-based lead molecules, we pursued an optimization strategy of reducing polar surface area to align the desired drug-like properties of potency, selectivity, high central nervous system (CNS) [...]
[18F]MK-8553 is a high affinity, selective OGA inhibitor with properties suitable for imaging OGA and determining central enzyme occupancy in both preclinical and clinical studies. Currently [18F]MK‐8553 is being utilized in humans as a PET tracer to assess CNS target engagement to select a dose for clinical proof of concept trials with a small molecule [...]
The enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GBA) hydrolyses glucosylceramide (GlcCer) in lysosomes. Markedly reduced GBA activity is associated with severe manifestations of Gaucher disease including neurological involvement. Mutations in the GBA gene have recently also been identified as major genetic risk factor for Parkinsonism. Disturbed metabolism of GlcCer may therefore play a role in neuropathology. Besides lysosomal GBA, [...]
Advances Novel Tau-directed Strategy for Treating Neurodegenerative Disease Phase 1 Clinical Trial Completed Vancouver, British Columbia (April 20, 2016) – Alectos Therapeutics Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to OGA inhibitor MK-8719 for the treatment of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Alectos also announced completion of [...]
Apr 18, 2016 – Alectos Therapeutics partner Merck, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, today disclosed preclinical data for potential clinical biomarker [18F]-MK-6240, a highly selective and specific tau PET tracer useful as an imaging agent for quantification of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). A pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, as well as several other neurodegenerative [...]
Feb 11, 2016 – Alectos today announced its support for NSERC funding for the group of Prof. A.J. Bennet at Simon Fraser University, Department of Chemistry, in a project titled “Fundamental Studies on the Biochemical Mechanism of Chemical Chaperoning of Glucocerebrosidase”. Parkinson's disease is a worldwide health problem that has been linked to deficiencies in [...]
Feb 17, 2015 – Alectos today announced its support as an industry partner in the new Canadian Glycomics Network (GlycoNet), unveiled this month by Minister of Health Rona Ambrose with a commitment of $27.3 million in federal funding over five years. GlycoNet’s vision is to link academic, government and industry partners to deliver solutions to [...]
Vancouver, British Columbia (December 12, 2014) – Alectos Therapeutics Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial in its collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, to identify and develop compounds that modulate O-linked N-acetylglucosaminidase (OGA), an enzyme that is believed to be involved in the development of [...]