Australian public company NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals (NSB) says it may be well placed against other larger pharmaceuticals in finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s research has recently moved towards a radical new approach focused on the survival of brain cells to combat degenerative neurological disease, says NSB, whose Chairman, Brian Leedman, says he believes NSB is the only company in the world poised to begin human studies in this specific field of research.
“NSB’s novel approach to cell survival was considered radical at the time of its public listing midway through 2018, but now is likely to be considered mainstream by the scientific community,” he said.
“We’re moving into human trials this year, which is effectively light years ahead of the competition.”
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 2015 an estimated 342,800 people were living with dementia in Australia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, an overall term for conditions that occur when the brain no longer functions properly.
An Access Economics report commissioned by Alzheimer’s Australia projected that by 2050, if no cure is found, the total number of Australians with dementia will be more than 730,000, or 2.8 per cent of the population. However, the costs are not just human, with Alzheimer’s Australia estimating that dementia cost $8.8 billion in direct expenditure in 2016, and forecasting it to rise to $16.7 billion by 2036.
NSB’s current main focus is the development of its leading drug candidate, EmtinB, towards clinical human trials expected to begin in the third quarter of 2019.
