• Press Release

Mount Sinai Researchers Find New Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Promising

Study hopes to show that the new treatment is safe and effective for stabilizing cognitive performance for patients with mild to moderate forms of Alzheimer's disease.

  • New York, NY
  • (July 12, 2009)

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that NIC5-15, a new Alzheimer’s drug, might be a safe and effective treatment to stabilize cognitive performance in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The two investigators, Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D. , and Hillel Grossman, M.D., presented Phase IIA preliminary clinical findings at the 2009 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) in Vienna on Monday, July 13.

NIC5-15’s potential to lessen decline in cognitive performance will be further evaluated in a Phase IIB clinical trial. Early evidence suggests that NIC5-15 is a safe and tolerable natural compound that may stabilize Alzheimer’s disease dementia by preventing the formation in the brain of beta-amyloid plaques, which are believed to be a leading cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

We are hopeful that the follow up clinical study will support this preliminary evidence, said Dr. Pasinetti, Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development, in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "With Alzheimer’s disease affecting 5.2 million Americans, another 5 million with early-state disease, and nearly a half million new cases reported annually, treatments like NIC5-15 would make a significant difference in the lives of many Alzheimer’s patients."

There are no FDA-approved Alzheimer’s disease modifying drugs available today, said Dr. Hillel Grossman, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Co-Director of the Clinical Research Core of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and Clinical Director of the Mount Sinai Memory and Aging Center. "Current drugs approved for use help maintain cognitive function, but only for a limited time. NIC5-15 is part of a new class of natural compound we found to have the potential of precluding the generation of ß-amyloid and, eventually, attenuating cognitive deterioration in preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease."

The study was conducted at the Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), a nationally renowned center of excellence since 1984. ADCR is a comprehensive research facility and clinical program dedicated to the study and treatment of both normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. The Center is supported by the National Institute on Aging, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Humanetics Corporation, manufacturers of NIC5-15, sponsored the study. Phase IIB clinical trials on NIC5-15 are expected to begin later this year.

Disclosure: Dr. Pasinetti has a patent pending for the use of NIC5-15 in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The patent application was filed on his behalf by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Pasinetti and the School of Medicine could benefit financially from the results of this trial.

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as having an innovative approach to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.

As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.

Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.

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