New Research Shows Simufilam Suppresses Overactive mTOR
- Overactive mTOR Plays a Key Role in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Simufilam Suppresses Overactive mTOR, Suggesting a Beneficial Drug Effect.
- Research is Published in Frontiers in Aging, a Peer-reviewed Journal.
AUSTIN, Texas, June 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cassava Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAVA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, today announced the publication of a new paper in Frontiers in Aging, a peer-reviewed journal focused on age-related scientific research. The new paper examined the effects of simufilam on mTOR. Simufilam is Cassava Sciences’ novel, oral drug candidate currently in Phase 3 clinical testing in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease dementia.
“Today’s publication suggests a meaningful impact of simufilam on overactive mTOR signaling,” said Lindsay Burns, PhD, SVP Neuroscience at Cassava Sciences, and co-author of the paper. “The data add to our understanding of simufilam’s mechanism of action in Alzheimer's disease.”
The scientific literature shows overactive mTOR plays a key role in aging, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. When functioning normally, mTOR monitors cellular needs and is activated by insulin. The research published today shows mTOR is overactive in lymphocytes isolated from blood collected from Alzheimer's patients versus healthy controls. After oral administration of simufilam 100 mg twice daily to Alzheimer's patients for 28 days, lymphocytes showed normalized mTOR activity and restored mTOR sensitivity to insulin.
“Normalizing mTOR may have tantalizing potential in Alzheimer’s disease and beyond,” said Remi Barbier, President & CEO. “There is a wide body of research on this topic.”
An abstract of the research paper appeared on-line June 23, 2023, ahead of print and is titled “Simufilam Suppresses Overactive mTOR and Restores Its Sensitivity to Insulin in Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Lymphocytes”. This paper is open-access (free) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The full-text paper is expected to be available on-line shortly.
About Simufilam
Simufilam is Cassava Sciences’ novel, oral drug candidate currently in Phase 3 clinical trials in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease dementia. Simufilam binds tightly to and reverses an altered conformation of the filamin A protein (FLNA) in Alzheimer’s patients. Altered FLNA is critical to the toxicity of amyloid beta (1-42). Simufilam is wholly owned by Cassava Sciences, without royalty or payment obligation to any third party.
About Cassava Sciences, Inc.
Cassava Sciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Austin, Texas. Our mission is to detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Our novel science is based on stabilizing—but not removing—a critical protein in the brain. Our product candidates have not been approved by any regulatory authority, and their safety, efficacy or other desirable attributes have not been established. For more information, please visit our website:
For More Information Contact:
Eric Schoen, Chief Financial Officer
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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that may include but are not limited to: published research regarding simufilam and the mTOR protein; the potential benefit, impact or significance of simufilam on mTOR in humans; potential benefits to normalizing mTOR in humans; the design, scope, conduct or intended purpose of our Phase 3 program of simufilam in patients with Alzheimer's disease; the safety or expected effects of mTOR or simufilam in Alzheimer’s disease, if any; any expected clinical results of Phase 3 studies; the treatment of people with Alzheimer’s disease dementia; the safety or efficacy of simufilam in people with Alzheimer’s disease dementia; verbal commentaries made by our employees; and potential benefits, if any, of the our product candidates. These statements may be identified by words such as “may,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” and other words and terms of similar meaning.
Simufilam is our investigational product candidate. It is not approved by any regulatory authority in any jurisdiction and its safety, efficacy or other desirable attributes have not been established in patients.
Drug development and commercialization involve a high degree of risk, and only a small number of research and development programs result in commercialization of a product. Clinical results from our prior studies may not be indicative of results of future or larger scale clinical trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. You should not place undue reliance on these statements or any scientific data we present or publish.
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