Curemark begins enrolling patients in Phase III clinical trials for CM-AT

Nov 20 2009

Curemark LLC, (www.curemark.com), a drug research and development company focused on the treatment of neurological diseases, announced that the company has begun enrolling patients in Phase III clinical trials for CM-AT, its autism treatment, at three additional clinical trial sites. The sites are the Southwest Autism and Resource Center in Phoenix, Arizona (SARRC); Pennsylvania State University's Pediatric Clinical Research Office at Hershey Medical Center in Hershey Pennsylvania; and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Curemark is conducting Phase III clinical trials for CM-AT at 12 sites with a total 170 children across the country. The company previously announced that the first clinical trial patients were enrolled at Lake Mary Pediatrics in Orange City, Florida.

"We are extremely pleased with the progress of the Phase III trial enrollment for CM-AT and are continuing to move forward with the other sites in the study across the country," said Dr. Joan Fallon, Curemark founder and CEO. "Especially given the new data on the increased incidence of autism, we're excited to be this far along in our clinical program."

CM-AT is based on Fallon's breakthrough research that showed enzyme deficiencies in autistic children, resulting in an inability to digest protein. The inability to digest protein affects the production of amino acids, the building blocks of chemicals essential for brain function. CM-AT will be one of the first therapies to address the underlying physiology of autism, rather than just treat its symptoms.

A new study released in early October by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed that the number of children affected by autism is much higher than originally thought. According to the CDC, autism affects 1 in 91 children and about 1 in 58 boys, totaling an estimated 673,000 or approximately 1% of all children in the U.S.