Highlights From 2009 Drug Discovery For Neurodegeneration Conference
Gang, this is just a short “abstract” if you will regarding this conference. The full article can be found on the BrinkZone if you want more info than this short write up supplies. To read full article Click Here.
The Drug Discovery For Neurodegeneration Conference Was held in Washing DC February 2-3d 2009. The conference was presented by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, with the mission to “rapidly accelerate the discovery and development of drugs to prevent, treat, and cure Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias of cognitive aging.
Although this organization has a focus on Alzheimer’s disease, other CNS related diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and Progressive Multiple Sclerosis were also discussed. This conference did not focus on “practical measures” per se for treating these diseases, but focused mostly on technologies in development that should be of real benefit to future treatments for these afflictions.
The good news from this conference is the model by how the pharmaceutical industry pursues new drug development is going through substantial changes; seeking more partnerships and new ideas from outside sources such as Universities, smaller companies, aggressively seeking to increase the rate at which they transfer concepts to actual clinical use.
Areas of focus for this conference covered that may yield promising drugs for treating or preventing these diseases, were compounds known as “penetrants” to improve the ability of drugs to pass the blood brain barrier or BBB. Another area of intense research is examining compounds called Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors which have shown real promise as anti cancer compounds which may also have uses in diseases effecting the CNS. One of the most interesting and promising areas of research is looking at specific inhibitors of the enzyme Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) which catalyzes the conversion of the amino acid arginine to NO. An over production of NO is pathologically elevated in Alzheimer’s as well as during strokes, migraine headaches, and cerebral palsy. Of course, one can’t simply block the production of NO due to its important in human health. However, a selective inhibitor would allow reduced levels of NO in the brain without negatively impacting the rest of the body where NO is essential for survival and health.
Clearly, effective treatments for these diseases are lacking currently, so controlling known environmental causes (diet, smoking, etc) and using nutrients known to be protective to the brain is still our best strategy.
Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 30 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.
His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors.
He’s also been published in peer reviewed journals.
Will is the author of the popular e-books, both accompanied by private members forum access , Bodybuilding Revealed & Fat Loss Revealed.
You can also buy Will’s other books on Amazon, Apple iBook, and Barnes and Noble.
Did you post a few of these things on another blog? That one post looked very familiar. Maybe I saw something about it on the news?
I thought that you would have a bit more feedback posted but anyway, great blog.
You saved me a lot of time researching for my class assignment. I am in your debt forever!
I hope your paper comes out well!
Do you plan to keep this site updated? I sure hope so…it’s great.
I emailed this link to my sister. She has been looking for this info for a long time.
It’s nice to finally find a site where the blogger knows what they are talking about.
Thanks for all the help dude.
I am going to have to sign up to receive your feed. This is good stuff.
Glad to hear you all are enjoying the blog. As you can see, I try to cover a lot of different topics relating to health, fitness, longevity, and many other topics.