Conference Reports
36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience
Atlanta, GA, USA, 14th-18th October 2006
The Society for Neuroscience was founded in 1969 as a non-profit collective of scientists and physicians who study the central nervous system and has grown from 500 members to more than 37,500. This year, 21,000 of its representatives from academic, medical and pharmaceutical backgrounds flocked from around the globe to the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta to share physiological and pharmacological understanding in fields which included sensory, motor, homeostatic and neuroendocrine systems, cognition and behaviour, and related nervous system disorders.
Five days of poster exhibits, lectures, symposia and workshops featuring more than 14,000 presentations allowed researchers to highlight and share their extensive knowledge regarding the physiological basis of neurological conditions, including the increasingly prevalent Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, ischaemic stroke and neuropathic pain.
One compound new to Pharmaprojects was Wyeth's selective α-2a adrenoreceptor agonist BRL-44408, indicated for the treatment of depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. It showed antidepressant-like effects similar to desipramine in the forced swim test and in schedule-induced polydipsia. Other signalling pathways were also under examination for combating neurological disorders. Pfizer reported on its development of URB-597, an inhibitor of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). In preclinical studies, it was shown to almost completely inhibit brain FAAH activity, which under abnormal conditions is responsible for the rapid degradation of fatty acid amides such as anadamide, which itself may have a role in mood regulation.
Wyeth reported several primary targets under consideration for some of the compounds in its pipeline, including adrenergic á-2a, type 2 neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, beta-site acute polypeptide-cleaving enzyme, insulin-like growth factor 1 and metabotropic type 5 glutamate.
Sanofi-Aventis also presented information on its candidate AVE-1625 for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and schizophrenia; interestingly this compound targets the cannabinoid-1 receptor, which until now has been predominantly investigated for treating eating disorders such as anorexia and obesity as well as for drug dependence. GW Pharmaceuticals has launched a CB-1 agonist as Sativex for treating neuropathic pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Current standard therapy for Parkinson's is administration of the dopamine precursor levodopa. However, due to the short duration of levodopa pharmacotherapy and unavoidable side-effects including dyskinesia, hallucinations and feedback-induced inhibition of dopamine release, there is a growing interest in alternative, more specific treatments. In light of this, and with financial support from the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Alnylam is developing siRNA oligonucleotides, designed to inhibit or silence the expression of alpha-synuclein, a protein which can lead to the degradation and death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia niagra, a primary cause of Parkinson's.
It is hoped that next year's meeting will set numbers of attendees soaring still further.
The 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience will take place in Anaheim, USA, 3rd - 7th November 2007.
Paul D'Souza
Pharmaprojects Analyst
