NEW YORK and NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J., Nov. 17, 2010
/PRNewswire/ — Provid Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a drug
discovery company, and Fast Forward, LLC, the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s subsidiary devoted to
bridging the gap between research and drug development, today
announced an expansion of their partnership to support Provid’s
preclinical studies of their candidate MS drug, PV-267. This
novel, highly selective small molecule is designed to block a
critical step in the autoimmune process of MS, which leads to the
destruction of the body’s protective myelin in the central nervous
system and to the ultimate accumulation of disability.
The expanded partnership will enable Provid to enhance knowledge
of the immune mechanisms involved in the activity of PV-267, paving
the way for future development and clinical studies. The
biological studies will be carried out by Dr. Thomas Forsthuber,
Provid’s collaborator and a leading immunologist at the University
of Texas San Antonio.
“The partnership between Fast Forward and Provid was
begun in May 2009 and helped fund important research,” noted Dr.
Gary Olson, Provid’s President and CEO. “In these studies,
PV-267 was shown to be active in an animal model of MS in
transgenic mice that carry the human gene for HLA-DR2, a
disease-associated molecule that is involved in the attack of the
immune system on myelin, the insulating protein on nerves that are
damaged in MS.” Dr. Olson added, “DR2 is present in about 60%
of the MS population and PV-267 was designed to be a potent and
selective blocker of DR2. This specificity suggests that
PV-267 could have a better safety profile compared with
immune-modifying therapies since it will not affect other, normal
immune responses.”
The partnership with Provid is one of a series of partnerships
between Fast Forward and early stage biotechnology
companies. “The results of our
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