Actinogen Medical (ASX:ACW) is an ASX-listed biotechnology company developing a novel therapy for neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases associated with dysregulated brain cortisol. There is a strong association between persistent stress and the production of excess cortisol that leads to changes in the brain affecting memory, cognitive function, behaviour and neuropsychological symptoms. Actinogen’s lead compound, Xanamem, has been specifically designed to reduce production of intracellular cortisol - the stress hormone - through the inhibition of the 11β-HSD1 enzyme in the brain. The 11β-HSD1 enzyme is highly concentrated in the areas of the brain associated with cognitive impairment in early Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Depression, and other neurological and psychiatric diseases. Because of its ability to reach these areas of the brain and inhibit this enzyme, Xanamem is very different from other treatments for cognitive impairment. Actinogen has studied 11β-HSD1 inhibition by Xanamem in more than 300 volunteers and patients, so far finding a statistically significant improvement in working memory and attention, compared with placebo, in healthy, older volunteers in two consecutive trials and clinically significant improvements in patients with biomarker-positive mild AD. Previously, high levels of target engagement in the brain with doses as low as 5 mg daily have been demonstrated in a human PET imaging study. The Company is rapidly moving forward into its upcoming double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trials in cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s Disease and Depression to further confirm and characterize Xanamem’s therapeutic potential. The XanaMIA Phase 2b AD trial comprises 330 patients with mild Alzheimer’s Disease and the XanaCIDD Phase 2a trial will total 160 patients with depression.
