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PR Newswire US
May 18, 2005 Wednesday 02:33 PM GMT
LENGTH: 432 words
DATELINE: WALTHAM, Mass. May 18

WALTHAM, Mass., May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- CNS disorders affect a vast patient population and represent a huge area of unmet therapeutic need. In the United States alone, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis afflict more than 6.5 million people.

The complexity of CNS diseases make this a challenging but potentially very rewarding area for research. A new CHA Advances Report, Neurogenomics and Neurotherapeutic Strategies: New Directions in Platforms, Targets, and Therapeutic Approaches evaluates emerging drug development efforts in this arena, focusing on six major CNS diseases:

Alzheimer's Disease
Parkinson's Disease
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Schizophrenia
Depression
Bipolar Disorder

According to the CHA report, the role of neurogenomics in the future development of neurology and neuropsychiatry therapy markets will be that of a significant behind-the-scenes player at the discovery and preclinical level:

* It will contribute to deciphering the interplay of polymorphisms of neuronal genes, environmental and nutritional factors, and drug
treatment.

* It could form the basis for a semi-personalized medicine, where a limited set of neurogenetic tests might allow patients to be assigned drugs and treatment regimes to which they are likely to respond best.

* Probably most important, it will play a crucial role in elucidating the molecular basis of neuronal disease by helping to create better animal models, which will aid in the development of more-efficient and more-selective drugs.

Neurogenomics and Neurotherapeutic Strategies forecasts that CNS drugs will profit more from ongoing paradigm changes in R&D methodology (e.g., the integration of genomics, proteomics, and molecular imaging techniques) than will most other drug classes. Once such developments lead to much more effective, or even truly curative, drugs, the CNS drug market could capture the leading position in the top pharmaceutical markets by 2007-2008.