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Sounds like they're on target

Myelin Repair Foundation Appoints Vice President of Drug Discovery


SARATOGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 31, 2007 - Dr. Jay Tung has been named Vice President of Drug Discovery at the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), an innovative non-profit medical research foundation dedicated to accelerating the delivery of myelin repair patient treatments to the millions suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Tung brings more than 16 years of experience with the drug discovery process from both the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors including at such companies as Eli Lilly and Athena Neurosciences. Most recently Dr. Tung served as Senior Director and Head of the Chemistry Department at Elan Pharmaceuticals where he worked on developing therapeutics for a variety of neurological diseases. He is an author and co-inventor of more than 50 scientific publications and patent applications.



"Dr. Tung's appointment at this time directly aligns with our rapid rate of progress toward licensing a validated myelin repair drug target to one or more biotech or pharmaceutical companies by the end of 2008," says MRF founder and President Scott Johnson. "His expertise and guidance in preparing and validating drug targets that will be attractive to biopharma will be critical to our achieving that goal."

As Vice President of Drug Discovery, Dr. Tung will be responsible for developing and managing MRF's target validation process that is designed to efficiently validate MRF's scientific discoveries and move them along in the drug pipeline for further development and clinical trials by biotech and pharmaceutical companies. MRF's target validation process represents phase two of the organization's overall research plan. The organization's phase one "discovery process" has already effectively cut in half the time it takes to identify drug targets. By design, the target validation process offers similar efficiencies and can potentially be used to enable the evaluation and transition of basic scientific discoveries into therapeutics for a variety of indications.

"Now that we have so successfully identified relevant targets, we need to ensure that those targets rapidly make their way to clinical trials," continued Johnson. "To do that, we must find concordant validation in multiple animal models, cellular assays and human tissue. Dr. Tung's experience in drug discovery and development makes him an ideal person to lead this effort on our behalf."

Dr. Tung holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Yale University.

About the Myelin Repair Foundation

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) - http://www.myelinrepair.org - is a non-profit medical research foundation dedicated to accelerating basic medical research and its translation into myelin repair treatments that will dramatically improve the lives of people suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). Many believe MRF's Accelerated Research Collaboration(TM) model could change the way in which all medical research is done.

About Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Myelin Repair

MS is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that affects more than 2.5 million people worldwide. The destruction of myelin, the protective coating surrounding the nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord, and the body's inability to repair it, results in a range of disabilities including motor, sensory and cognitive. MRF's goal is to develop viable treatments that will restore the body's natural ability to repair myelin, reversing the effects of MS.

I dont see how they can make the date? I guess when they say "license" they are only talking about the start of clinical trials, not the actual release for public use.

If the trials start in 2008, they would go for at leats a few years. Even if the started this year, we couldnt expect them out before 2010?

I wondered the same thing when I read it and even took a look at the date of the article to make sure it wasn't from five years ago or something. I took licensing to mean an approved, ready for market treatment but you must be correct, it's something much more base than that.

I'd been using an older version of Netscape (7.2 because I was used to it) and the other day I happened to use the newest version of firefox. Lo and behold I noticed while using firefox that thisisms has a spell check function I'd never noticed before and I love it. A little red line forms under misspelled words and when you right click it shows the correct spelling and lets you correct your mistake.
Bob

I believe that the Myelin Repair Foundation only promised to have a drug in trials by 2010. I'm assuming that must be what Promise 2010 hopes too although they are a little vague on that point. Either way, having a drug start trials by 2008 sounds hopeful.

My question is, I thought a major obstacle was that they were still in development of equipment that will be able to measure remyelinization. Am I wrong? I'm assuming they would have to in order to start trials and measure efficacy. If they have already developed the equipment, wouldn't safety be the only other factor they would need to prove? I'm assuming that 2 years or so would be long enough to prove prolonged myelin repair. Remember, I am completely unscientifically minded so I welcome explanations.

Hi Scooby,
I'm sure someone else will know more about it but unless it's that mrr I keep reading about I'm not sure what new equipment. I'd imagine that even when they can measure remyelinization, at least for a time it's still going boil down to documenting real world results??

Just a guess from another layman but I'm under the impression that the safety aspect is the most time consuming factor involved in clinical trials and I'm not sure how much time governmental overseers would allow to be cut.

Bob

I have not had the test myself, but one I have herd they use often as part of the diagnosis, is the response time from stimulation (optical I think) to effect in the brain. The slower speeds are caused by demylination only (I think).

I have had similar tests on my peripheral nerves when I was thought to have a peripheral demylinating condition.

I wonder then if that is the type of test they would be using to prove efficacy? If so, how accurate could it possibly be? I'm not really looking for an answer, just writing outloud. I'm most hopeful about the regeneration/protection avenue but I just wish I could find more concrete info. I'm sure they must have this all figured out, just wish I knew the answers.

Heck, just email the people at the Myelin Repair Foundation and maybe you can get it from the horse's mouth?
Bob

Good idea Bob.
Judie

Below is my Question & the Answer I got from MRF. regarding the date mentioned in this article

Dear MRF,

I recently read this article in BUSINESS WIRE

SARATOGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 31, 2007 - Dr. Jay Tung has been named Vice President of Drug Discovery at the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), an innovative non-profit medical research foundation dedicated to accelerating the delivery of myelin repair patient treatments to the millions suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Tung's appointment at this time directly aligns with our rapid rate of progress toward licensing a validated myelin repair drug target to one or more biotech or pharmaceutical companies by the end of 2008,"

I had the following question regarding the date mentioned above.

# Does the date above (end of 2008) mean, that we will have an drug ready to start the phase 1 trail in 2009?

# Or is it the date in which the drug development will start ?



Dear Gopinath,

Unfortunately this means that we hope to get the drug development process started by then. We have a number of promising targets but finding ways to therapeutically effect novel targets can be a complex process.

We asked Jay to join the team because of his extensive background in neuroscience drug development and his extensive network of people who can help us accelerate the process of moving our targets to pre clinical candidates.

We will be diligent in selecting best in class development partners, setting aggressive development milestones and working closely with them to begin clinical trials just as soon as is safely possible.

In the meantime, this year we initiated a study looking for new biomarkers that could result in new FDA approved methods for measuring efficacy in clinical trials.

If accurate new markers for myelination and remyelination can be found it could shave years off the time necessary to complete clinical trials and drug approval.

Please rest assured that we share your sense of urgency and will continue to move ahead as quickly as possible.

Best regards,

Russell L. Bromley
Chief Operating Officer
Myelin Repair Foundation
18809 Cox Ave., Suite 190
Saratoga, CA 95070
Direct 408.871.2407
Main 408.971.2410
Mobile 650-743-2225
Fax 408-871-2409


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Thanks for sharing that interesting information j_gopi!

That's the way to do it, go right to the head honcho!

Bob

j_gopi,

Thanks for posting this. I do believe that there are a lot of researchers that are working hard trying to make this disease disappear.

gwa