RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (RSPI)

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RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. Announces Publication of Preclinical Results Supporting the Use of AMPAkines in the Treatment of Human Spinal Cord Injury
BY GlobeNewswire
— 8:45 AM ET 11/29/2021

Glen Rock, N.J.,, Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. ( RSPI ) (“RespireRx” or the “Company”), a leader in the discovery and development of innovative and revolutionary treatments to combat diseases caused by disruption of neuronal signaling, is pleased to announce the publication by Dr. David Fuller (University of Florida) and his colleagues of two new, scientific articles in major, peer-reviewed journals. In these new studies funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Fuller, a long-time RespireRx collaborator, describes the ability of CX1739 and CX717, the Company’s lead AMPAkines, to improve motor nerve activity and muscle function in animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI).

The first paper entitled “Spinally delivered ampakine CX717 increases phrenic motor output in adult rats” was published online ahead of print in the journal Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resp.2021.103814) and describes the ability of direct spinal administration of CX717 to increase the amplitude of motor nerve activity on the side ipsilateral (same side) to that in which a unilateral cervical transection had been made to anesthetized and ventilated rats.

Commenting on these results, Arnold Lippa, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors said, “In combination with prior studies, these new results demonstrate that AMPAkines may potentially have broad effects on both the brain and spinal cord to enhance spinal plasticity and improve motor function in patients with different forms of SCI.”

Unlike the above and all prior published articles, the second paper entitled “Ampakines stimulate diaphragm activity after spinal cord injury” was published online ahead of print in the Journal of Neurotrauma (http://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2021.0301) and describes research conducted for the first time in awake freely moving rats as late as two weeks after having previously undergone unilateral spinal hemi-transection at the C2 spinal level. For the first time, low dose administration of either CX1739 or CX717 was shown to improve not only motor nerve and muscle activity recorded electrophysiologically from the lesioned side, but to significantly improve actual motor functioning and breathing, even under challenging conditions. The importance of these findings is described in the article by pointing out that the majority of the approximately 500,000 annual SCI cases reported globally involve injuries to the cervical spinal cord and, in severe cases, require the use of mechanical ventilation or direct diaphragm pacing to sustain ventilation. Also, in confirmation of previously reported results in anesthetized animals, the AMPAkines improved, in awake freely moving animals, the motor facilitation produced by an episode of acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH), a treatment currently used in the rehabilitation of SCI patients.

As Dr. Fuller concluded in this paper, “Our study provides evidence that even lower ampakine doses can effectively stimulate breathing and diaphragm muscle activity in a pre-clinical model of cervical-SCI, with no evidence of adverse effects. Furthermore, ampakine treated animals are capable of increasing respiratory motor drive to a larger degree when challenged, a response often dampened in SCI patients. Lastly, the current data suggest that pairing low-dose and low impact ampakines with even a single brief hypoxia exposure may have value in the context of neurorehabilitation paradigms.”

Dr. Lippa said, “As part of our ongoing AMPAkine collaboration with Dr. Fuller, these exciting new research results add considerable support to the concept that AMPAkines might be a new therapeutic alternative for significantly improving clinical recovery from SCI, when given alone or in combination with other types of rehabilitation. As such, they strengthen our intention to translationally extend this work to human clinical trials.”