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>>> RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. Announces Publication of Ampakine Data:

BY GlobeNewswire

07/25/2018



https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0753332218313787



Effects of Chronic Systemic Low-impact Ampakine Treatment on Neurotrophin Expression in Rat Brain

Glen Rock, N.J., July 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. ( RSPI ) (“RespireRx” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that an article describing the company’s translational research on the ability of its proprietary ampakines to stimulate neurotrophin expression has been published in Biomedical Pharmacotherapy (Biomed Pharmacother. 2018 Jun 6;105:540-544. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.06.008.). The paper demonstrates that low-impact ampakines, when administered to animals at therapeutically relevant doses for two weeks, enhance expression of the neurotrophic factors, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). These neurotrophic factors promote neuronal growth, plasticity and survival, functions essential for normal brain functioning.

Ampakines are a class of molecules that enhance the actions of glutamate, the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, at its AMPA receptors. Prior to this article, it was believed that the induction of neurotrophic factors was exclusively produced by high impact ampakines, which also produced undesirable side effects such as seizures. In the current study, the Company demonstrated increased levels of brain BDNF and NGF at doses of representative low impact ampakines that are active in behavioral measures of cognition. Low impact ampakines do not display the side effects associated with high impact ampakines. The results demonstrate that low impact ampakines safely induce differential increases in neurotrophins across several brain regions, providing mechanistic and translational evidence for their activity not only in memory and cognition, but also in a variety of central nervous system disorders, including ADHD and spinal cord injury.

“These results are important because novel means of up-regulating neurotrophin levels may be of use in the treatment of a number of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, as well as in spinal cord injury,” stated Arnold Lippa, PhD, RespireRx Executive Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer and an author on the paper. “These data highlight the ability of low impact ampakines, similar to those presently undergoing clinical development, to elevate neurotrophin expression in different brain regions that impact memory, behavior, and neuronal function. Low impact ampakines were not previously believed to increase neurotrophins, but with chronic administration at clinically relevant doses, we have demonstrated a mechanism underlying the therapeutic potential of these compounds for improving neuronal function without the seizure potential that limited development of the high impact compounds. These and other recently published data provide the impetus for RespireRx to advance our compounds for the treatment of neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly ADHD, where we have positive clinical data.”

Richard Purcell, Senior Vice President of Research & Development at RespireRx, and an author on the paper continued, “The present findings are encouraging for our ampakine clinical development program. Our preclinical results have demonstrated significant improvements in neuronal signaling after spinal cord injury with low impact ampakine treatment, perhaps facilitated by these increases in BDNF and NGF. We are working with academic collaborators on these research efforts, and look forward to translating these promising results into the clinic for the treatment of spinal cord injury.”

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