NeurotrophinCell – for Huntington’s disease and stroke

A choroid plexus cell product with the potential to treat diseases of the nervous system such as Huntington’s disease and stroke. It is important to note that this product may also prove to be beneficial for a range of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and motor neuron disease.

These cells help maintain cerebrospinal fluid. These cells efficiently secrete a range of neurotrophins (or nerve factors) that have been shown to protect against neuron (nerve) cell death in animal models of disease.

Market

• Stroke, caused by an interruption of blood flow to the brain, is the third leading cause of death in most developed countries
• Stroke affects more than 48,000 Australians every year
• Stroke costs the Australian community over $630 million per year
• Huntington’s disease is a genetically inherited neuropsychiatric disorder. It affects both body and mind. It has no cure.
• Huntington’s disease affects more than 1 in every 100,000 people. Each child of an infected parent has a 50 per cent chance of inheriting it.
• Over 1,200 people in Australia with HD and 6,000 more at risk

Product Development

• Well tolerated in pre-clinical primate studies targeting neurological disorders with no evidence of adverse side effects.
• Significantly diminishes the degeneration of striatal neurons in neurodegenerative conditions such as Huntington’s disease.
• Pre-clinical results reveal the brain cell damage in primates treated with the NeurotrophinCell product was 5 times less than in control animals in a Huntington's disease model.
• Data from pre-clinical studies show that choroid plexus cell transplants can potentially reduce damage to the brain by 86 per cent and dramatically improve limb use.
• Early stage research indicates the product may be effective in protecting insulin secreting beta cells and preventing the onset
  of diabetes in a non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of
  Type 1 diabetes.