PROMISE OF AXONAL GENERATION TO CURE PARKINSON’S AND OTHER NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES

UPDATE ON THE ROAD TO THE CURE

A REAL-TIME SCIENCE REPORT

With the aging population living longer, there is an escalation of these debilitations worldwide with no cure on horizon. 

Neuronal degeneration is a hallmark of most neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (AML), and several inherited neuropathies such as glaucoma. With the aging population living longer, there is an escalation of these debilitations worldwide with no cure on the horizon. These disorders get progressively worse with age rendering afflicted individuals helpless and dependent on others.

Axonal Degeneration as an Active and Distinct Process of Neuronal Dysfunction – Axonal degeneration is a common outcome of an injury to the brain. This injury could be in the form of brain trauma that crushes the nerve. It could also be due to neuroinflammation caused by protein aggregation such as alpha-synuclein in the brain of Parkinson’s and Lewy body patients. The most extreme and best characterized form of axonal degeneration occurs when a nerve is damaged and axons in the segment distal to the injury site undergo fragmentation. In many cases, axon dysfunction precedes by months to years before degeneration of neurons as observed from functional imaging in living patients [Neuroimage, 53, 576–583 (2010)]. These studies underscore the importance of the axon as a vulnerable compartment that is a distinct subcellular target of neurodegenerative disease.

SARM1 is the Committed Downstream Effector of the Axonal Degeneration Pathway – SARM1 (Sterile Alpha and Toll Interleukin-1 Receptor Motif) is an important protein that is believed to be the central executor of axonal degeneration. For decades, scientists have been studying the underlying mechanism for axonal degeneration in order to devise therapeutic strategy to reverse axonal degeneration. Finally, their efforts seem to have panned out. The culprit was found to be SARM1, which in healthy neurons is in an unactive state. Brain injury leads to SARM1 activation, which in turn commits axons to downstream processes that result in calcium entry and breakdown of the axon cytoskeleton, causing axonal degeneration. 

Consequently, the development of approaches that inhibit axon degeneration and generate axons should be a major focus of future drug discovery efforts by the pharmaceutical world. Unfortunately, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a formidable barrier that restricts the entry of most pharmaceuticals into the CNS. Therefore, any inhibitor of SARM1 must be able to enter the brain to be therapeutically efficacious to stop active axon degeneration.

Parkinson’s Cure could be closer than we think but not going to be cheap – Good news is that ICB International, Inc., (“ICBII”), has developed BBB permeable technology. It plans to develop a bifunctional BBB permeable SMART Molecule with one end carrying a drug to inactivate SARM1 and the other end to generate new dopamine producing neurons. 

As the world has experienced firsthand during COVID-19 pandemic, development of drugs is extremely expensive. Example: US Government gave Pfizer $1.8 Billion to develop a fast track vaccine for COVID-19 last March or April. The development of vaccine for COVID-19 may be the unprecedented fast track development of a potential curative therapy for a non-brain disease but we still do not know how long the vaccine will be good for to protect the population from the deadly disease. It is safe to assume that Pfizer has spent close to one billion dollar of its own money to conduct Phase-1 to Phase-3 clinical trials. Therefore, the cost of developing a COVID-19 vaccine is estimated to be at a minimum about $2.8 Billion. If a development of therapy for a non-brain disease where the challenges of the blood-brain barrier impermeability are not required to be addressed, imagine what would be the cost of developing a curative therapy for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Would You Like To Help get ICBII’s drugs to market faster? The joy of being a part of this historical event can be had by helping ICBI find the funds to bring these trials to fruition through your investing, and by finding others with the financial ability and humanitarian mindset to accomplish the—until now—impossible. Please contact ICBI directly through their website ICBII.com, or by phone 858-455-9880.

IMAGINE the world without Parkinson’s, MSA, or Alzheimer’s disease.
Just Imagine.