Actinogen Medical (ASX:ACW) has reached a major milestone with the first patient treated in XanADu, its Phase II clinical trial of Xanamem in Alzheimer’s disease.
Xanamem has been specifically designed to block the production of excess cortisol in the brain.
Cortisol is a hormone produced by the body in times of stress and there is a growing body of research that shows a strong association between excess cortisol and Alzheimer’s disease.
This is the first patient to be enrolled into XanADu globally, and represents a significant milestone following more than a decade of research undertaken by Edinburgh University and Actinogen.
The first patient was treated at the Central Coast Neurosciences Research site in New South Wales, Australia.
Other trial sites in Australia, the U.S. and the UK will soon start recruiting patients, with the final patient expected by Q4 2018, and top-line results for the trial expected in Q1 2019.
Xanamem represents a potential breakthrough in treating Alzheimer’s disease at a time when several high-profile drug trials based on more traditional approaches have failed.
XanADu, the largest global Alzheimer’s dementia study ever conducted by an Australian biotech company, will enrol 174 patients at 20 research sites across Australia, the UK and the U.S.
In the U.S. alone, the cost of managing Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to be US$250 billion, and is set to increase to US$2 trillion by 2050, outstripping the treatment costs of all other diseases.