deCODE Files IND for DG071, a Novel PDE4 Modulator Being Developed for Alzheimer's and Other Cognitive...( REYKJAVIK Iceland Oct. 3 /- deCOD...),Health

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- deCODE genetics (Nasdaq: DCGN) today announced the filing of an investigational new drug (IND) application for DG071, the company's novel small-molecule modulator of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The compound is being developed as a new and potentially safer means of targeting PDE4 to combat memory loss and cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer's disease and other disorders in which neural signaling is reduced or impaired. In animal models, DG071 has been shown to significantly improve learning and long- and short-term memory at doses that offer a wide margin for safety and tolerability. The compound has the potential to eliminate the nausea that limits the utility of previous PDE4 inhibitors. deCODE plans to advance the clinical development of DG071 with a strategic partner.

"This compound has exciting therapeutic potential and reflects the exceptional capabilities of our drug discovery and structural biology groups. Our teams used protein crytallography to determine the structure of domains that regulate the enzymatic activity of PDE4, and in DG071 discovered a compound that binds to the PDE4 regulatory domain and effectively modulates the activity of the enzyme. DG071 has been shown in several animal models to potently and specifically improve cognitive function, and features a much wider safety and tolerability profile than existing PDE4 inhibitors. This is encouraging, as many of the amyloid-busting therapeutics currently entering clinical trials in Alzheimer's disease have the potential to slow or stop progression of the disease but will not reverse the destruction of neurons. Our expectation is that DG071 will allow the
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