New Molecule with High Potential in Future Treatments for Alzheimer’s

[TECH NEWS]

Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB) have developed a multitarget molecule, ASS234, which according to the results of in vitro studies conducted, inhibits the aggregation of the ß-amyloid protein, involved in Alzheimer’s disease. At the same time, ASS234 stimulates cholinergic and monoaminergic transmission, key factors involved in cognitive function. In addition, ASS234 is able to cross the blood-brain barrier with an elevated multipotent profile designed on the basis of donepezil (Aricept®), one of the few effective drugs in palliative and symptomatic treatments of the disease. In the development of this new molecule, researchers used the strategy of “multipotent drugs,” capable of acting simultaneously on different targets in the brain involved in this neurodegenerative disease, given that the paradigm used in the design of drugs based on the strategy of “one drug, one target” has shown to be unsuitable in offering satisfactory results.

June 4, 2012, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona