Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A.: Safinamide Update Montag, 12. Mai 2014 - 07:12

About Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the patient’s motor skills and speech. Parkinson's disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. It is characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement (bradykinesia) and, in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement (akinesia). The primary symptoms are the results of decreased stimulation of the motor cortex by the basal ganglia, normally caused by the insufficient formation and action of dopamine, which is produced in the dopaminergic neurons of the brain. Secondary symptoms may include high-level cognitive dysfunction and subtle language problems. Parkinson’s disease is both chronic and progressive. It is estimated that more than 3 million people in the industrialized countries suffer from Parkinson’s disease.

About safinamide

Safinamide, an alpha-aminoamide, is currently being developed by Newron as an add-on therapy to dopamine agonists or to levodopa in patients with early or mid- to late-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD). It is believed to have both dopaminergic and non dopaminergic activities, including selective and reversible inhibition of monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B), activity-dependent sodium channel antagonism and inhibition of glutamate release in vitro.

About Newron Pharmaceuticals

Newron (SIX: NWRN) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for patients with diseases of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and pain. The Company is headquartered in Bresso near Milan, Italy. Following the submission of the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for safinamide for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December 2013, as well as the submission to Swissmedic in March, 2014 by Zambon, Newron is working to complete the global filing of the compound, together with its partners. Zambon Group has the rights to commercialize safinamide globally, excluding Japan and other key Asian territories where Meiji Seika has the rights to develop and commercialize the compound. Newron’s additional projects are based on highly promising treatments for rare disease patients and are at various stages of clinical development, including sNN0031 for patients with Parkinson’s disease, non-responsive to oral drug treatments, sarizotan for patients with Rett syndrome, sNN0029 for patients with ALS and ralfinamide for patients with specific rare pain indications. Newron is  concurrently developing NW-3509 as the potential first add-on therapy for the treatment of patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia. www.newron.com

About Zambon

Zambon is a leading Italian pharmaceutical and fine-chemical multinational company, that has earned a strong reputation over the years for high quality products and services. Zambon is well-established in 3 therapeutic areas: respiratory, pain and woman care, and is very strongly committed to its entry into the CNS space. Zambon SpA produces high quality products thanks to the management of the whole production chain which involves Zach (Zambon chemical), a privileged partner for API, custom synthesis and generic products. The Group is strongly working on the treatment of the chronic respiratory diseases as BPCO and on the CNS therapeutic area with safinamide for the Parkinson treatment. Zambon is headquartered in Milan and was established in 1906 in Vicenza. Zambon is present in 15 countries with more than 2,600 employees with manufacturing units in Italy, Switzerland, France, China and Brazil. For details on Zambon please see:www.zambongroup.com

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