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Biovista and CAA identify candidate drug for repurposing

B

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
Looking at the graph on page 43, I think it suggests that perhaps they're not looking at any drugs that work on dopamine, such as anti-psychotics.

From my interpretation of their slides, I think that anti-depressants and anti-psychotics might be a red-herring, and they maybe looking for drugs that have the opposite effects of both anti-depressants and anti-psychotics.

So my earlier rambling post looks like it could be a load of nonsense (sorry about that.)
Olanzapine (Zyprexa) is on their list of drugs that causes exhaustion and chronic fatigue. (page 44.)
But Amisulpride isn't on their list.

Looking at slides 44 & 45, I assume that they would be avoiding any drug that causes any 'exhaustion' or 'chronic fatigue' as a side effect.
It seems that the only drug on their lists that doesn't cause exhaustion, or chronic fatigue, is Reminyl (galantamine), an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, used to treat (mild to moderate) Alzheimer's disease. (It works by slowing the breakdown of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.) Wikipedia says that it's also used to treat various other memory impairments, in particular those of vascular origin.
(Superficially, this does seem appropriate, for both the memory and vascular issues.)

But this is pure speculation again, and probably unhelpful, as I'm probably barking up the wrong tree. They just haven't given us enough information to know what they are getting up to.
 
Sing

Sing

Senior Member
Messages
1,782
Location
New England
Aricept also slows the breakdown of acetylcholine, which is why it is helpful in "mild" dementias.

Our speculation may not be valuable so much in terms of correct guessing as it is helpful in teaching us more about biological or neurological pathways, various drugs, etc. We are sort of like a school for each other. I learn thought processes too here.

Thank you, everyone!
 
urbantravels

urbantravels

disjecta membra
Messages
1,333
Location
Los Angeles, CA
There was a presentation at the Rocky Mountain ME/CFS Fibro Association over the weekend with Suzanne Vernon and Lucinda Bateman. My informant tells me that Suzanne discussed the mysterious candidate drug combo, which they are not yet able to name, and said they were medications already in use for "pain and sleep." That's all she would say, & it's not much, but still it's a tiny bit more than we knew before.
 
SOC

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
urbantravels said:
... they were medications already in use for "pain and sleep."
Click to expand...


Bleah. I'm inclined to think "Big effing deal" since most of us are already taking meds for pain and sleep. It may be a marketing coup for the drug company, but not anything new for us.

OTOH, any drug marketed specifically for us gives us street cred, so maybe it's worthwhile in that regard.
 
WillowJ

WillowJ

คภภเє ɠรค๓թєl
Messages
4,940
Location
WA, USA
SOC said:
OTOH, any drug marketed specifically for us gives us street cred, so maybe it's worthwhile in that regard.
Click to expand...

yes, I'm thinking this is important regardless of how useful the drug ends up being (Lyrica isn't exactly very useful for treating fibro, but it's helped legitimize the disease)
 
K

knackers323

Senior Member
Messages
1,625
jspotila said:
I heard that they are still going through the IND process (investigative new drug) which is required before they start trials. Once that is finalized I think they can release the name of the meds they're studying. I've heard another IND from another sponsor is also in the works.
Click to expand...

@jspotila heard any thing else?
 
J

jspotila

Senior Member
Messages
1,099
knackers323 said:
@jspotila heard any thing else?
Click to expand...
Not a peep, @knackers323. It's been a year, and nothing released on this as far as I know. But full disclosure, since I am a member of the FDA's Patient Representative Program and eligible to serve on advisory committees evaluating drug applications, I have stayed away from this and other trials. I don't want to bias myself in any way that could jeopardize fulfilling the Patient Rep function.
 
nandixon

nandixon

Senior Member
Messages
1,092
Most of the public activity surrounding Biovista's two-drug combination treatment for ME/CFS occurred in April/May 2013, I think.

In general, patent applications are published 18 months from their date of filing. If Biovista made a filing, that would allow us to find out what the two drugs are.

So far, using the patent application databases, I don't see a publication for Biovista for the particular drugs we're waiting for word on. (Their most recent, unrelated publication is January 2015, I think.)

This means that they probably hadn't filed an application as of the middle of August 2013.

Does anyone know, or can find out, whether a patent application has even been filed?
 
nandixon

nandixon

Senior Member
Messages
1,092
It's not much, but I found out that Biovista is supposed to be in the process of filing the intellectual property (e.g., patent applications) for the drug combo.

They're also supposed to be raising funds for the clinical trial (presumably Phase 2), which apparently will require about $3 million.

So I guess we'll find out the names of the two drugs when either 18 months has passed from the date of filing of a patent application, or hopefully when the Phase 2 trial starts, whichever comes first.
 
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