New Alliance Seeks to Advance Understanding of Disease and Clear Path for
New Treatments
WILMINGTON, Del. and PHOENIX, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The
Banner Alzheimer's Institute and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) today announced
that they will collaborate to help advance understanding of Alzheimer's
disease and increase knowledge of potential new avenues for treatment
through the use of cutting-edge brain imaging methods.
The new alliance will focus on the evaluation and further development
of a radioligand discovered by AstraZeneca. This radioligand is a molecule
that binds to amyloid plaque -- protein deposits in the brain that are a
hallmark of Alzheimer's disease -- and allows the plaque to be measured in
real time using a positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
Scientists at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute and AstraZeneca hope to
use this new technology to find clues to how the disease progresses and
affects the brain, offering a baseline for future studies. The information
could potentially be used to monitor the effectiveness of existing
treatments, reveal new therapeutic targets and enhance understanding of
novel ways to curtail disease progression.
"We look forward to working with AstraZeneca on the development of this
promising research tool for the early detection, tracking and scientific
study of Alzheimer's disease in the living human brain," said Dr. Eric
Reiman, executive director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. "Our goals
are to advance the scientific understanding of Alzheimer's disease and
evaluate promising disease-slowing and prevention therapies in the most
rapid and rigorous way."
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and affects
more than 5 million Americans (1). Little is known about what causes this
fatal condition or how it progresses in patients.
"Collaborating with the world-class researchers at the Banner
Alzheimer's Institute means that together we can generate invaluable
insights about Alzheimer's disease and we hope that this will facilitate
the invention and development of important new medicines to help patients
afflicted with this dreadful disease," said Bob Holland, Vice President for
Neuroscience at AstraZeneca.
"Researchers at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute have a long-standing
reputation for excellent imaging research in the Alzheimer's field. This
setting is ideal for further evaluation of our new radioligand with the
potential for detailed mapping of amyloid deposits and early diagnosis of
Alzheimer's disease," said Lars Farde, Chief Scientist for CNS and Pain
Research at AstraZeneca.
This the second of several planned new alliances by AstraZeneca with
leading academic and research institutions to address unmet medical needs
through cutting-edge research across several disease areas, including
Alzheimer's disease, chronic pain and psychiatric illnesses. The first
collaboration in this series was an agreement with the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, in September, which focused on
depression and other psychiatric illnesses. These proposed new agreements
complement existing AstraZeneca US-based alliances in neuroscience and
other key therapeutic areas with world-class institutions.
About Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that destroys brain cells,
causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect
work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer's gets worse over time,
and it is fatal. Today it is the seventh-leading cause of death in the
United States (1).
About Banner Alzheimer's Institute
The Banner Alzheimer's Institute provides clinical care for patients
with memory and thinking problems. It also offers education, referral and
support services for family and caregivers, and conducts leading-edge
research in clinical trials, brain imaging and genetics studies. The
Institute is devoted to finding effective Alzheimer's disease-slowing and
prevention treatments in the shortest time possible. Banner Alzheimer's
Institute is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a nonprofit
organization. For more information about Banner Alzheimer's Institute,
please visit http://www.banneralz.org.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the
research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription
pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the
world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $26.47
billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular,
neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection products. AstraZeneca is
listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the
FTSE4Good Index.
In the United States, AstraZeneca is a $12.44 billion healthcare
business with more than 12,000 employees. For nearly three decades,
AstraZeneca has offered drug assistance programs side by side with its
medicines, and over the past five years, has provided over $3 billion in
savings to more than 1 million patients throughout the U.S. and Puerto
Rico. AstraZeneca has been named one of the "100 Best Companies for Working
Mothers" by Working Mother magazine and is the only large pharmaceutical
company named to FORTUNE magazine's 2007 list of "100 Best Companies to
Work For." In 2006, for the fifth consecutive year, Science magazine named
AstraZeneca a "Top Employer" on its ranking of the world's most respected
biopharmaceutical employers.
(1) The Alzheimer's Association, What is Alzheimer's,
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp, accessed Nov.
26, 2007.
SOURCE AstraZeneca
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Related links:
http://www.astrazeneca-us.com
http://www.banneralz.org
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/985887.html/
CONTACT:
Michael Keegan of AstraZeneca,
+1-781-839-4335, michael.keegan@AstraZeneca.com; or Paul Matthews
of Banner Alzheimer's Institute, +1-602-239-6907,
paul.matthews@bannerhealth.com
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