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| SP01-A
, Samaritan’s lead HIV drug candidate, works within
healthy human cells and not directly on the virus to lower
average levels of HIV genetic material in the blood stream. |
Building
on years of experience in public and financial relations,
Richard Brown managed his own PR company when he first started
working for Samaritan in 1998. It wasn’t until mid 2006
however that he was appointed Investor Relations Specialist
for Samaritan. He explains that Samaritan was founded in 1994
and has operated under its current name since 2000. Initially
a one-drug company focusing on the development of new HIV
treatments, Samaritan has since grown to become an innovative
biopharmaceutical force with additional operations in Ireland
and Greece, and an impressive drug development pipeline.
Samaritan CEO,
Dr. Janet Greeson has done an amazing job in growing our company,
said Brown. Dr. Greeson has a way of surrounding herself with
very talented people such as Chief Financial Officer, Eugene
Boyle, Chief Drug Development Officer, Dr. Tom Lang who was
the former President of Serono Inc., and Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos,
currently Associate Vice President of Research for Georgetown
University, soon to be head of research for McGill University
in Canada.
 An
important factor in this seems to have been the company’s
research partnership with Georgetown University, which was
established in 2001. The partnership has notably included
data mining, the screening for new drug compounds. A majority
of the compounds exhibit direct effects on mitochondrial function.
The mitrochondria is sometimes described as ‘cellular
power plants’, because they convert food molecules into
energy, mitochondria are seen as an important factor in the
aging process. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to
a variety of diseases including Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s,
cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s and Type II Diabetes.
On that note, Mr.
Brown stresses that over all, the partnership with Georgetown
University has allowed Samaritan to dramatically increase
its technology valuation. “We’ve become a force
in the treatment of Alzheimer’s with breakthrough compounds
that could change the way patients are treated today.”
 Samaritan
announced on December 7th 2006, it has recently been granted
an Investigational New Drug (IND) number from the US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), further the FDA has requested
additional information before Phase I human clinical trials
may commence to evaluate SP-233, also known as Caprospinol,
as a potentially new and novel pharmaceutical treatment for
Alzheimer’s disease. This is an important first step,
to test Caprospinol’s future in humans, as a potential
memory-saving Alzheimer’s drug. Unlike drugs currently
used to treat Alzheimer’s that just alleviate symptoms,
Caprospinol might potentially be a viable treatment for the
disease itself. Alzheimer’s disease is still considered
an incurable, progressive brain disorder that causes dementia.
Current treatments work to slow down the progression of the
disease by boosting neurotransmitter levels in neurons, but
it has not been possible to reverse any damage already done
by the disease.
Therefore,
there is a pressing need for the development of new treatments
such as SP-233. Mr. Brown explains that their SP-233 research
has looked at the main constituent of amyloid plaques, amyloid-beta
protein, which accumulates at abnormal levels in the brain
of Alzheimer’s sufferers. The protein is toxic to mitochondria
found in cells and ultimately causes nerve cell death. This
in turn, causes the symptoms of the disease, including loss
of memory, an inability to learn, make judgments and perform
day-to-day tasks. Caprospinol has been developed by Samaritan
to protect mitochondria functions against the effects of amyloid-beta.
It does this by binding to amyloid-beta and preventing it
entering neurons.
The people of Samaritan believe that SP-233 could be effective
in any disease that involves neuro-degeneration, including
diseases such as Huntington disease, multiple sclerosis and
Parkinson’s disease. The company is currently concentrating
on the treatment of Alzheimer’s in general, and on SP-
233 in particular. Mr. Brown says that the additional SP-233
studies should hopefully be completed sometime in 2007, and
the company is optimistic that if everything continues to
progress well with the trials that the drug will become available
in the future to help the millions of afflicted humans with
fighting the effects of Alzheimer’s.
Samaritan
meanwhile also continues to expand its cancer portfolio, having
recently engaged in the acquisition of a company that specializes
in the development of cyto-static and antimetastatic therapies
for the management of cancer. The company is positioned on
the cusp of emerging cancer therapeutic strategies focused
on controlling tumour progression and metastasis using molecularly
targeted compounds. Our cancer technology fits perfectly into
our pipeline development and marketing strategy” comments
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown
is also happy with the progress made on Samaritan’s
cardiovascular drug. Data gathered in a series of animal studies
give Samaritan reason to believe its proprietary peptide,
SP-1000, cleans the blood of excessive cholesterol and corrects
high cholesterol conditions in people affected by the disease.
SP-1000 Lowering cholesterol is a key component in the prevention
and management of heart disease.
“We will
continue to work on collaborating with academic institutions
and “Big Pharma” to build our growth pipeline
and enhance the potential of Samaritan for our shareholders
and the unseen toll of patients suffering with these diseases.”
says Mr. Brown.
Disclaimer:
The
company disclaims any information that is created by an outside
party and endorses only information that is communicated by
its press releases, filings and Website. This news release
contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's
current beliefs about the potential for its drug candidates,
science and technology. However, as with any biopharmaceutical
under development, there are significant risks and uncertainties
in the process of development and regulatory review. There
are no guarantees that products will prove to be commercially
successful. For additional information about the factors that
affect the company's business, please read the company's latest
Form 10-K/A filed November 2, 2006. The company undertakes
no duty to update forward-looking statements.
Contact:
The Investor Relations Group
Investor Relations:
Adam Holdsworth
Erica Ruderman
Rachel Colgate
212-825-3210
Samaritan
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Kristi Eads
702-735-7001
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Good
Samaritan's Focus on Alzheimer's
