Diamyd Updates Gene Therapy Program and Outlines Plans for Phase I Clinical Trial for Treatment of C...(the safety of NP2. In total 12 patients ...),Health

"We are very pleased with the progress of the NTDDS program in Pittsburgh since acquiring Nurel Therapeutics 18 months ago," said Anders Essen-Moller, CEO of Diamyd Medical. "Not only may the NP2 project in itself result in a major therapeutic, but shareholder value is also built with the establishment of a broad platform technology that should yield numerous product candidates for which collaborations with third parties will be sought. In addition, our Diamyd Inc. lab facilities and expertise in manufacturing and preclinical areas have been fully used to move the company's lead product, the GAD-based diabetes vaccine Diamyd(R), towards Phase III trials later this year."

About Diamyd's NTDDS Technology for Treatment of Pain

Diamyd Medical owns the exclusive worldwide license rights to a portfolio of patents for the Nerve Targeting Drug Delivery System (NTDDS). This system is based on a replication incompetent viral delivery system that can express numerous therapeutic genes. The NTDDS has a natural affinity for nerve cells. Diamyd's initial NTDDS projects are focused upon peripheral and central nervous system applications. To that end, Diamyd seeks to combine the natural biology of the NTDDS (local nerve targeting) with therapeutic agents that are naturally found in the body and have a known therapeutic effect (e.g., GAD or enkephalin for treatment of pain, and neurotrophic factors for nerve damage). Thus, Diamyd believes that NTDDS proposes a new and broad class of nervous system disease therapies.

Pain is transmitted through a series of neurons that run from the skin to the brain. Pain signaling can be inhibited in several ways using the synapse between the peripheral and central nervous systems. This synapse provides input from the skin or organs as the first order neuron. The output from this synapse, the second order neuron, is
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