By Kyo Jin HwangPublished: 12:45 PM GMT+9, June 4, 2024(Seoul, June 4) Cancer, cardiovascular, and brain diseases are the top three hard-to-treat and deadly diseases in Korea. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases have been well studied and have treatments. However, brain diseases, including Alzheimer&

Development of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been the main focus of recent research. However, the high cost and invasiveness of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and positron emission tomography (PET) biomarkers have limited their use in the research and clinical settings. Therefore, the relia

Ceriporia lacerata has the neuroprotective effectsFugenbio, a Seoul-based pharmaceutical company developing the functional and medical foods using the original materials for metabolic diseases and aging, announced on December 8th that its novel fungus ‘Ceriporia lacerata (C. lacerata)’ had showed to

GNT Pharma (hereafter ‘GNT’ for short) headquartered in Yongin, South Korea, a biotechnology company developing innovative drugs for the treatment of neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), announced on December 7th that it had applied for two international patent applications unde

Biomarkers that reflect the underlying pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) would be helpful in understanding the mechanisms of disease and developing new therapeutic strategies. They would be also advantageous to early diagnosis, disease staging, assessing response to treatment, and evaluating

Riken (Rikagaku Kenkyujo), the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan, announced on December 1st that the researchers at the Center for Brain Science (CBS) have discovered that the α-endosulfine (ENSA) protein is involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Their study with

UCB (Union Chimique Belge), a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, announced on December 2nd that it has reached the agreement with Novartis for the global development and commercialization of UCB0599 and UCB7853. UCB focuses on the discovery and development of innova

On November 29, the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the phase 1 clinical trial of HY209 for the treatment of dementia.HY209 is a novel inflammasome inhibitor developed by Shaperon, a biotech company based in Seoul. The main ingredient of HY209 is taurodeoxycholic acid (a component of

The microtubule-binding protein, tau, is the main component of neurofibrillary tangles that are pathologic hallmarks of neurodegenerative tauopathies including Alzheimer's disease (AD), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).Given that tau proteins within neuro

Alpha-synucleinopathies are neurodegenerative diseases caused by the abnormal accumulation of misfolded alpha-synuclein in neurons and glial cells. There are three major types of alpha-synucleinopathies: Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA).Mis

On June 7th 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the accelerated approval of aducanumab (amyloid beta-targeted, disease-modifying IgG monoclonal antibody) to be marketed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), in spite of the controversy surrounding the incongruent correlation

Mitochondria play a crucial role in the energy production that is essential for the cell survival. Extraordinary endeavors have recently been made to investigate the impact of mitochondrial dysfunctions on the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), such as oxidative stress by excessive reactive o

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are expressed mainly in the brain have recently been adopted to regulate the neurodegeneration and cognitive dysfunction in AD as a potential therapeutic intervention.Among various GPCRs, the Taste Receptors (TASRs for short) that mediate taste are expressed

The pathological hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (a region of the midbrain) by the misfolded and accumulated alpha-synuclein proteins.The cause of PD is still elusive, but various factors appear to play their roles, in

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding nucleic acids that are able to inhibit the target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). MiRNAs regulate the neurite outgrowth, neuronal differentiation, and synaptic plasticity in the brain, and dysfunctioning miRNAs are increasingly recognized in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) r

GNT Pharma, headquartered in Yongin, South Korea, is a biotechnology company developing innovative drugs for the treatment of neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD).GNT Pharma developed its novel drug ‘Crisdesalazine (also known as AAD-2004)’ for the treatment of canine cognitive d

Neuroinflammation, a major factor in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), is mediated by the activation of NLRP3 (NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3) inflammasome. NLRP3, also known as cryopyrin and expressed mainly in macrophages, fo

MEDIFRON (KOSDAQ: 065650), headquartered in Seoul, a biotechnology company developing new diagnostics and therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), announced on November 22nd that it had filed the international patent application under the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) for ‘MDR-0214’, a novel can

Aptamers are short strands of oligonucleotides (DNA or RNA) or peptides molecules that bind to specific target molecules. They are small-sized and non-immunogenic unlike antibodies.Aptamers are used to identify biomarkers on the cell surface, to control the release of therapeutics, and to deliver th

Natural Killer (NK) cells are a type of cytotoxic granular lymphocytes critical to the innate and adaptive immune systems. NK cells detect and destroy the abnormal cells like cancer cells and infected cells. They also regulate inflammatory and immune responses by activating immune cells.Based on the