ROAD TO THE CURE UPDATE MAY 2014

Last Month, for the first time since we’ve been publishing this information, we proudly introduced ICBI and their scientists along with their special news release. We told you that they are making unparalleled history and their remarkable scientific contacts continue to grow as they define themselves more clearly and their goals come into view! WE ARE SO EXCITED by this research; we invite you to contact us or them if you want information about supporting or investing in the Road to the Cure. We would be proud to make this important introduction. We continue to salute our scientists as they forge ahead!

We urge you to revisit the April issue of Newsworthy Notes for this BREAKING information.

Developments of Alpha-Synuclein-SMART Molecule as a Potential Diagnostic and a Therapeutic Agent for Parkinson’s disease (PD) Scientists at ICB International, (“ICBI”), are continuing their efforts to develop a diagnostic and a disease modifying agent for PD. They are preparing to conduct an experiment proposed in the grant funded last year by the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF). The experiment calls for studying pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of alpha-synuclein-SMART Molecule (a-Syn-SM) in Parkinson’s-like transgenic mice. In this study, scientists will first introduce a radioactive tag (iodine-125) in a-Syn-SM, which will then be administered via tail vein into 90 mice in groups of three. At various time intervals, the mice will be examined for serum retention and biodistribution of our drug in different organs of the body. These studies are essential for any pharmaceutical drug that is developed for human use. The data helps to establish the dose and determine frequency of dosing based upon retention of drug in the body.

Breeding of Parkinson’s Mice–Breeding Parkinson’s mice has been a challenge as mothers, with disease induced in their brains, do not feed the new born pups, a result of which the pups die. Surrogate normal mothers often do not welcome the pups bred by Parkinson’s moms. So, it is a constant struggle to raise enough mice for our projects requiring a large colony of mice. Fortunately, we now have generated an adequate supply of mice for the MJFF grant experiment, which will be conducted in collaboration with CMIS, Sherbrook, Canada.

These mice are now being genotyped to determine which ones are carrying the a-Syn gene before shipping to Canada.

Michael J. Fox Foundation–Dr. Anna Cartier presented recent SPECT imaging data to MJFF on March 26, 2014. Just recently, the Foundation’s representative told us they are excited to work with ICBI on advancing its PET imaging ligand for diagnosing and monitoring Parkinson’s disease in patients. However, the Foundation wants ICBI to finish its current grant project before discussing the PET imaging project. Nevertheless, ICBI is optimistic to receive additional funding assistance in the future from the MJFF.

Clinical Significance of ICBI’s Recent Success of SPECT Imaging Study last month, ICBI gave a press release on the first successful live visualization of alpha-synuclein (a-Syn) in the brains of mice with and without Parkinson’s disease using SPECT imaging technology.

It was, perhaps, a breakthrough finding in the history of neurosciences because, currently, there is no way to monitor the effect of therapy on the levels of pathogenic alpha-synuclein protein in the brain of Parkinson’s patients until the postmortem. It is unfortunate that the decades of Research and Development efforts and expenditure in billions of dollars by government and private institutions has not produced a technology to assess what, if anything, therapy is doing to the pathogenic protein in live patients. As part of its commitment to improve patient care, ICBI has developed a technology to make up for the past failure of technologies developed by others to detect and monitor the levels of pathogenic proteins in patients afflicted by neurodegenerative disorders. ICBI’s SMART Molecule for a-Syn, shown by SPECT Imaging to have unequivocally latched onto pathogenic protein in the central nervous system of live experimental mice, holds a tremendous promise not only for serving as a novel useful tool for diagnosing and monitoring PD, but also as a disease curing/modifying agent.