CytRx study reveals potential of molecular chaperones in design of anti-aging pharmaceuticals

Oct 29 2009

CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ:CYTR), a biopharmaceutical company and a leader in molecular chaperone regulation technology, today announced that a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Gerontology concluded that molecular chaperone amplification may represent a “significant strategy” in the future design of anti-aging pharmaceuticals. The paper’s authors, led by Stuart K. Calderwood, Ph.D., of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, reviewed 40 clinical and animal studies in peer-reviewed publications and found that molecular chaperones play an important role in the deterrence of protein damage during the aging process and that chaperone expression is required for cell longevity.

“This extensive review of scientific data from multiple clinicians provides independent verification of the considerable potential of molecular chaperones in designing pharmaceuticals to treat a multitude of age-related diseases and disorders. This opens new blockbuster opportunities for our molecular chaperone technology beyond the large neurodegenerative disease, stroke recovery and neuropathy markets that we have been investigating,” said CytRx’s President and CEO Steven A. Kriegsman. “The abstract’s conclusions add to the continually growing validation in the scientific literature of the tremendous commercial potential of our chaperone amplifying drug candidates. Several interested pharmaceutical suitors are currently evaluating potential partnerships aimed at advancing development of this technology, which will allow for greater internal focus on developing our considerable oncology assets.”

In the paper, “The Shock of Aging: Molecular Chaperones and the Heat Shock Response in Longevity and Aging – A Mini-Review,” in the September 2009 edition of Gerontology (volume 55, pages 550-558), the authors found that molecular chaperone expression declines with aging, setting the stage for more interrogation of the role of molecular chaperone amplification in aging and longevity in human patients.

Jack Barber, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, commented, “The authors’ conclusion of the importance of chaperones in aging coincides with our data indicating the potential of arimoclomol and iroxanadine in age-progressive indications, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, as well as diabetes and its complications, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. The authors speculated that one of the ways to accomplish a pharmacologic stimulation of chaperone synthesis is to activate the transcriptional regulator Heat Shock Factor-1 (HSF-1), and that is exactly the mechanism by which arimoclomol and iroxanadine are thought to work.”

CytRx has submitted a revised protocol to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its clinical trial with arimoclomol as a treatment for ALS with the expectation that the clinical hold will be lifted in the current quarter.