Alseres Pharmaceuticals Initiates the ALTROPANE(R) POET-2 Phase III Clinical Tri...( HOPKINTON Mass. Dec. 18 /- Alsere...),Health

HOPKINTON, Mass., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: ALSE), announced today that it has enrolled the first subject in the initial stage of the ALTROPANE(R) Parkinson's or Essential Tremor - 2 (POET-2) Phase III clinical trial program. This subject was enrolled at the University of Alabama, Birmingham trial site under the direction of Principal Investigator Dr. Ray L. Watts, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology.

ALTROPANE is a diagnostic molecular imaging agent being developed to aid in the differentiation of Parkinsonian Syndromes from non-Parkinsonian tremor. An estimated 10 million Americans are presently living with tremor. Currently, tremor disorders are diagnosed by subjective clinical evaluation which, according to the Canadian Journal of Neuroscience, is associated with an error rate among general neurologists of 25% to 35%.

Dr. Mark Hurtt, the Company's Chief Medical Officer, commented, "The enrollment of the first subject in the POET-2 Phase lll program is an important milestone for Alseres as we continue the process of moving ALTROPANE toward regulatory approval. We believe that ALTROPANE has the potential to help doctors more accurately diagnose tremor to minimize the side-effects of unnecessary treatments. ALTROPANE may also provide diagnostic support to monitor disease progression and the effects of emerging therapeutics."

Dr. Ray L. Watts, M.D. of University of Alabama -- Birmingham, Movement Disorder Specialist, stated "ALTROPANE may prove to be a valuable tool in assisting neurologists with their clinical diagnosis of Parkinsonian Syndromes, especially in the early stages."

About the "Parkinson's or Essential Tremor" (POET-2) Trial Prog
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