July 21, 2009 : Critical Outcome Technologies Inc. (COTI) , announced that the Company has undertaken the discovery and optimization of novel lead compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). “Based on partnering interest expressed by multiple global pharmaceutical organizations we have decided to establish a drug discovery program to help combat this devastating disease”, said Mr. Michael Cloutier, Chief Executive Officer of COTI.To address this substantial unmet medical need, COTI has leveraged its proprietary drug discovery technology CHEMSAS® to develop a novel approach for the discovery of potentially effective oral treatments for AD. Multiple and interacting factors have been proposed as causes of AD and there is an increasing number of validated therapeutic targets. Traditional drug development has focused on agents that inhibit an enzyme of the neural transmitter Acetylcholine. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency have approved treatments for AD from this class that currently dominate the market although they have not produced results that consistently meet the requirements of healthcare professionals and patients. The COTI scientific team has focused their research efforts on the area of secretases, a class of enzymes that cut the amyloid precursor protein into three fragments. Sequential cutting by beta secretase and gamma secretase produces the beta amyloid peptide fragments that accumulate into the "plaques" or scars found in the brains of people with AD... [PDF] Critical Outcome Technologies' Press Release -
