Depression Trial IND approval, Neuralstem (NYSE Amex: CUR)
CUR received an Investigational New Drug (IND) application approval to initiate a Phase Ia safety trial to test NSI-189, its first small molecule compound, in major depression (12/16/10).
- NSI-189 is a proprietary new chemical entity discovered by CUR that stimulates new neuron growth in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is believed to be involved in depression and other diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease;
- NSI-189 is a new class of orally administered drugs that recruit endogenous neural stem cells;
- In mice, NSI-189 both stimulated neurogenesis of the hippocampus and increased its overall volume as well;
- NSI-189 stimulated neurogenesis of human hippocampus-derived neural stem cells in-vitro.
- NSI-189 may reverse the human hippocampal atrophy seen in major depression and schizophrenia;
- This program has received significant support from both the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
This Phase Ia trial will test a single dose of NSI-189 in healthy patients. The entire Phase I trial is expected to be approximately one year in duration.
- CUR is up $0.26 to $2.43 or 11.98%.
