By Peter Winter

BioWorld International Correspondent

OTTAWA, Ontario - Neurochem Inc. and H. Lundbeck A/S agreed to a collaboration to develop therapeutics aimed at treating Alzheimer's disease.

The companies signed a research and licensing agreement that will provide up to $17 million in milestone payments to Neurochem from the Danish pharmaceutical company. In addition, Montreal-based Neurochem will receive $7.5 million in research support over a three-year period.

The agreement also calls for equity investments in Neurochem and royalty payments based on future sales of any developed products. In return, Lundbeck receives an exclusive right to develop and commercialize products resulting from the project except in Canada, where Neurochem has retained the rights to co-commercialize products resulting from the collaboration.

According to Lise Hebert, director of communications and investor relations at Neurochem, the alliance represents an excellent fit since Lundbeck is a specialized pharmaceutical company focusing solely on the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system. Neurochem's research effort is, to a large part, also CNS-based, focused on discovering and treating the formation of amyloid.

Amyloids are proteins that bind together with other chemicals to become a highly toxic amyloid fibril. These fibrils then progressively destroy healthy cells. Eventually, the fibrils cluster in one or many areas of an organ, creating amyloid plaques that destroy the surrounding body tissue. Amyloid fibrils and plaques have been associated with Alzheimer's disease, as well as Type II diabetes, secondary amyloidosis and other conditions.

Neurochem is developing lead compounds to prevent the process of amyloid fibrillogenesis. In addition, Neurochem seeks to alleviate amyloid toxicity by interfering with the inflammatory cascade triggered by amyloid deposition. In order to interfere with fibrillogenesis, Neurochem's small-molecule compounds target sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAG) molecules present in the plaques known to promote fibril formation and to protect these fibrils from proteolysis.

The company's technology platform entails designing and synthesizing small organic molecules that mimic the sulfated GAG molecules and compete with them for the binding or interaction with the amyloidogenic protein, thereby inhibiting these processes.

The agreement with Lundbeck focuses specifically on the development of compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, including Neurochem's lead compound, Alzhemed (NC-531), currently in Phase I trials, which has been shown to enter the brain and inhibit the toxic effects caused by amyloid fibrils.

Neurochem has one other drug candidate in clinical trials, Fibrillex, which has received FDA orphan drug designation for the treatment of patients suffering from secondary amyloidosis.