EPIX PRESENTS FINDINGS FROM OBESITY, COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT TRIALS

Epix Pharmaceuticals has announced that preclinical data from studies on obesity and cognitive impairment with PRX-07034, a highly selective 5-HT6 receptor antagonist, were presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Atlanta. Data from these studies provide support for the ongoing Phase I clinical program of PRX-07034. This orally available drug candidate is currently being developed for the treatment for obesity and cognitive impairment.

Epix presented data indicating that PRX-07034 improved cognitive functioning in several well-established preclinical models that may have relevance for cognitive deficits present in Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. PRX-07034 enhanced performance in a preclinical test of cognitive flexibility known as "set-shifting" as well as in a test of object-recognition memory. In the object-recognition test, low doses of PRX-07034, which had no significant efficacy alone, produced enhancement of memory when combined with a subefficacious dose of Aricept, an approved drug for Alzheimer's disease. PRX-07034 also completely reversed a scopolamine-induced deficit in memory, suggesting that PRX-07034 exerts a positive effect on the cholinergic system, which is implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

Additional data presented support PRX-07034 as a potential treatment for obesity. In two preclinical models of obesity, PRX-07034 produced sustained weight loss along with reductions in plasma levels of glucose, insulin and leptin. The weight loss was specific to loss of fat content. Results suggest that PRX-07034 may provide a novel, effective and safe approach to the treatment of obesity.

PRX-07034 is a novel, highly selective, small-molecule antagonist of a specific G-protein coupled receptor known as 5-HT6. Indications are that the human 5-HT6 receptor is found mainly in the central nervous system with little or no expression in peripheral tissues, which may result in selectivity in drug targeting with fewer side effects, according to Epix.