News & Events

The Latest Information at American Life Science Pharmaceuticals...

November 12-16, 2011: Dr. Greg Hook of ALSP Inc. and his colleagues Dr. Vivian Hook of UCSD and Dr. Mark Kindy of the Medical University of South Carolina, presented at Neuroscience 2011 in San Diego, November 12-16, 2011. Presented data suggest that both cathepsin B and BACE-1 are true beta-secretases but that they function at different levels in the generation of Abeta peptides. These data strongly suggest that a therapeutically acceptable method of inhibiting Cat B can be developed to reduce brain Abeta in AD patients. Read More...

 

November 6-8, 2011: Dr. Greg Hook, Co-Founder, Vice President and Corporate Counsel at American Life Science Pharmaceuticals, ALSP Inc., presents the lead compound at Partnering For Cures in New York NY.  The compound, which represents a new class of Alzheimer's disease therapeutics, was developed using the drug repurposing approach and a protease activity discovered by the company's co-founder, Professor Vivian Hook at the University of California, San Diego. American Life Science Pharmaceuticals' Alzheimer's disease lead compound is orally effective at restoring memory deficits in Alzheimer's animal models, safe to use in man, and patentable. By sharing risk through coupling sweat equity with funding from the NIH, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, and Norac Pharma, and partnering with Applied Neurotechnology, Global R&D, and the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, the compound is poised to enter the clinic. Funding for Phase I is sought. Watch Presentation...

 

September 8, 2011: Researchers from University of California, San Diego, ALSP Inc., and the Medical University of South Carolina published in the Biochimica et Biophysica Acta data discovering biological roles of Cathepsin L and B which indicate their significance in human health and disease. Recent new findings indicate significant biological roles of cysteine cathepsin proteases in secretory vesicles for production of biologically active peptides. Notably, cathepsin L in secretory vesicles has been demonstrated as a key protease for proteolytic processing of proneuropeptides (and prohormones) into active neuropeptides that are released to mediate cell-cell communication in the nervous system for neurotransmission. Moreover, cathepsin B in secretory vesicles has been recently identified as a beta-secretase for production of neurotoxic beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptides that accumulate in Alzheimer's disease (AD), participating as a notable factor in the severe memory loss in AD. Read More...

 

 

May 25, 2011: Researchers from ALSP Inc., the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of California, San Diego, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's disease data showing that the cysteine protease inhibitor E64d is efficacious in Alzheimer's disease animal models when orally administered. Importantly, the data show that feeding E64d to transgenic mice restores the memory deficits and reduces the brain amyloid plaque, which occurs in those animals and mimics the behavior and pathology seen in Alzheimer's disease patients. Dr. Gregory Hook, VP of Alzheimer's Disease Research at ALSP said that "these data are particularly exciting because E64d has previously been shown safe to use in man and thus this compound, or a derivative of it, have real clinical potential for Alzheimer's disease treatment." Read More...

 

 

February 6-8, 2011: Dr. James Hogan, post-doctoral fellow at ALSP Inc. receives "ADDF Young Investigator Scholarship". The award was presented at the "5th Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration" meeting in San Diego, February 6-8, 2011.

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December 1-4, 2010: Dr. Greg Hook of ALSP Inc. and his colleagues Dr. Vivian Hook of UCSD and Dr. Mark Kindy of the Medical University of South Carolina, present three papers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 2010 Meeting on NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES: BIOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS Read More...

 

 

November 13-17, 2010: Dr. Greg Hook of ALSP Inc. and his colleagues Dr. Vivian Hook of UCSD and Dr. Mark Kindy of the Medical University of South Carolina, present three papers at NEUROSCIENCE 2010 in San Diego Read More...

 

 

November 9, 2010: ALSP Inc. receives funding from federal program, Therapeutic Discovery Project Read More...

 

 

May 24, 2010: Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation funds ALSP Inc. to move novel therapeutic towards clinic Read More...

 

 

September 29, 2009: ALSP's Principle Investigator, Dr. Greg Hook, awarded an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 supplemental grant award 3R44AG030865-02S1 for hiring a post-doctoral fellow to develop protease inhibitor drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease Read More...

 

 

August 16, 2009: Dr. Gregory Einhorn joins ALSP Inc. as in-house Patent Counsel.

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August 1, 2009: Dr. Nancy Sipes joins ALSP Inc. as VP of Product Development.

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July 9, 2009: ALSP's lead compound admitted to the Investigative New Drug (IND) enabling toxicology contract program sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, conducted at SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, for promising Alzheimer's Disease therapeutics.

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January 30, 2009: ALSP's Principle Investigator Dr. Greg Hook awarded grant 1R21AG031963 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in the National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, to develop new prodrugs to treat Alzheimer's Disease.

 

 

November 14, 2008: ALSP's Principle Investigator, Dr. Greg Hook, awarded fast-track Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant 1R44AG030865 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in the National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, to develop protease inhibitor drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease.

 

 

November 3, 2008: ALSP's Principle Investigator, Dr. Greg Hook, awarded fast-track Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant 1R44AG032784 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in the National Institute on Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, to develop E64d to treat Alzheimer's Disease.

 

 

March 18, 2008: Potential Alzheimer's Disease Drug Target Identified

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