Samaritan Pharmaceutical's Alzheimer's drug is non-toxic, preclinical analysis says

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, March 23 - Samaritan Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Alzheimer's disease drug candidate SP233, recently registered as Caprospinol, showed no toxic effects in standard preclinical assays used to evaluate safety, according to a company news release.

Samaritan said it has concluded a number of preclinical studies of SP233 and plans to file an Investigational New Drug application with the Food and Drug Administration.

"We are cautiously optimistic the FDA will grant us an Investigational New Drug application, and if so, SP233 would be one of the few drugs to be tested in humans that could actually treat Alzheimer's, not just alleviate its symptoms," chief executive officer Janet Greeson said in the release.

The exact cause of Alzheimer's disease remains unknown, but many researchers think a buildup of the protein beta-amyloid in the brain is what causes the disease. SP233 is designed to exert neuroprotective properties against beta-amyloid toxicity, the company said.

Samaritan is a biotechnology company based in Las Vegas that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics for AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, cancer and heart disease.

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