Memory Pharmaceuticals plans to begin multiple phase 2 clinical trials this year

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Eugene, Ore., June 14 - Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp. plans to begin between three and five phase 2 clinical trials by the end of the year, said James R. Sulant, president and chief executive officer of the company, during a presentation at the Needham & Co. Biotechnology and Medical Technology Conference on Wednesday.

"We're getting to a point where we're going to discover whether or not these programs are successful, and that's an exciting time," said Sulant during the presentation.

The company plans to begin a phase 2 clinical trial of MEM3454 in the second half of the year, he said.

Memory is hoping the trial will replicate the results it found in the drug's phase 1 clinical trial, which demonstrated that 15 mg of the drug administered for 13 days had a statistically significant positive effect on memory in healthy patients.

"We were a little bit surprised by this information. Surprised not in the sense that we didn't have confidence in the target, but we did not expect to see such a clear signal of efficacy in a 13-day trial," Sulant said.

Memory plans to study MEM3454 on patients with Alzheimer's disease and may also test the drug for patients with schizophrenia in the future, he said.

A pivotal trial could following the upcoming phase 2 testing, Sulant said.

Memory also expects to have data from phase 2 clinical trials of MEM1003, which is being tested for Alzheimer's disease, in the first half of 2007.

Phase 1 clinical trials of MEM1003 established necessary safety data, including that the drug did not drive down blood pressure at relevant concentrations, Sulant said.

Memory plans to file an Investigational Drug Application with the Food and Drug Administration to also test MEM1003 for bipolar disease. If approved, Sulant said the company would have results from the trial in the first half of 2007, around the same time that it would have data from trials of the drug for Alzheimer's disease.

Clinical testing of MEM1003 for bipolar disease would be shorter and involve fewer patients than the Alzheimer's trials, he said.

Memory is also advancing additional drugs for cognitive impairment diseases, including MEM63908 and MEM1917, which are in pre-clinical phases, and MEM1414 for Alzheimer's disease, which has completed phase 1 clinical trials, Sulant said Wednesday.

Memory Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company based in Montvale, N.J.

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