New York, N.Y., April 11, 2018 — Lauren Sciences LLC, the private New York biotechnology company developing transformative V-Smart® Nanomedicines for brain diseases, today announced the award of its third grant from The ALS Association. The ALS Association grant will support Lauren Sciences continued development of LAUR-301, its novel V-Smart® Nanomedicine for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Future success of LAUR-301 is expected to provide an effective new treatment for ALS patients.
V-Smart® Nanomedicines encapsulate and deliver non-brain penetrant therapeutic agents across the blood brain barrier (BBB) and into the central nervous system (CNS) after non-invasive administration. LAUR-301 is a V-Smart® Nanomedicine specially designed for ALS, engineered to specifically target, and selectively release at, degenerating motor neurons in ALS, and customized with GDNF, a known non-brain penetrant neurotrophic factor that has shown potential efficacy for ALS when delivered invasively. Lauren Sciences goal is for LAUR-301 to become an approved effective treatment for ALS that protects against neurodegeneration and induces neuro-restoration in all ALS patients and, thus, slows down, or reverses, ALS, whereas no such treatment presently exists.
"Lauren Sciences appreciates The ALS Association's recognition and confidence with its third award to us," said Susan Rosenbaum, J.D., Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Lauren Sciences. "This ALS Association award confirms LAUR-301's successful development to date, reaffirms LAUR-301's ability to overcome the BBB delivery challenge for potentially life-saving therapeutics, and anticipates LAUR-301 will become a transformative V-Smart® Nanomedicine for all ALS patients. We are also grateful to our ALS medical advisor, Robert H. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of Neurology at U. Mass. Medical School."
"The ALS Association is dedicated to finding treatments or a cure for ALS," said Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D., M.B.A., Chief Scientist of The ALS Association. "Trophic factors and other neuroprotective and regenerative agents that do not get into the brain by existing oral or IV delivery, have shown the potential to protect motor neurons during the course of ALS. LAUR-301 has shown the ability to deliver GDNF across the BBB into the brain and spinal cord following systemic administration."
"LAUR-301 has promise as an effective new treatment for ALS patients," said Irwin Hollander, Ph.D., VP of R&D at Lauren Sciences. "LAUR-301 will likely be a disease-modifying drug, unlike standard treatments that, in most patients, merely delay disease progression. Lauren Sciences goal is clinical validation and approval of LAUR-301, which will, ultimately, improve ALS patients lives."
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About V-Smart® Nanomedicines
V-Smart® Nanomedicines address key clinical challenges and critical unmet medical needs to provide high transformational impact on medical treatment and outcomes. V-Smart® Nanomedicines, proven to encapsulate therapeutic agents, cross blood brain barrier (BBB), target and deliver to sites in brain, selectively release at target sites, be administered systemically, as well as be safe and effective (preclinical, to date), uniquely solve problem that most therapeutic agents, including biologicals, with potential to treat or cure brain diseases, do not cross BBB. V-Smart® Nanomedicines will significantly improve lives of patients, as they enable patients to benefit from therapeutic agents whose use is currently unavailable due to inability to cross BBB, poor PK, bioavailability or toxicity issues, required long term and non-invasive treatment, or even where oral administration is preferable.
About Lauren Sciences LLC
Lauren Sciences is New York biotechnology company, licensed groundbreaking V-Smart® platform nanotechnology from Ben-Gurion University, Israel, where it launched R&D of innovative V-Smart® targeted drug delivery platform, followed by development of proprietary pipeline of transformative V-Smart® targeted therapeutics — V-Smart® Nanomedicines — for CNS, neurodegenerative, rare/orphan brain diseases, including: Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's (ALS), Brain Cancer (GBM), Alzheimer's. Lauren Sciences achieves success with its expert leadership team, renowned foundation awards, preeminent medical advisors, prestigious collaborations, proprietary pipeline, patent family portfolio, peer-reviewed journal papers, scientific meeting posters, conference research presentations and industry reports. For more information about Lauren Sciences, visit the website at https://laurensciencesllc.com/.
About ALS
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons (nerve cells) in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually, people with ALS lose the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, which often leads to total paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. There is no cure and limited life-prolonging treatments for the disease. Based on U.S. population studies, a little over 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time.
About The ALS Association
Established in 1985, The ALS Association is the only national non-profit organization fighting Lou Gehrig's Disease on every front. By leading the way in global research, providing assistance to people with ALS through a nationwide network of chapters, coordinating multidisciplinary care through certified clinical care centers, and fostering government partnerships, The ALS Association builds hope and enhances quality of life while aggressively searching for new treatments and a cure. For more information about The ALS Association, visit the website at http://www.alsa.org.
Media Contact
Susan Rosenbaum, J.D.
[email protected]
212-737-0455
http://www.laurensciences.com
