AptaBio, a developer of innovative drugs for intractable diseases, said on Tuesday that it will present the treatment effect of APX-NEW, an oxidative stress drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, at the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) on Nov.12-16 in San Diego, the U.S.

APX-NEW is a drug with a mechanism of inhibiting brain neuronal cell death by regulating oxidative stress through the regulation of NOX enzyme in the brain and is designed to effectively pass through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAPDH) oxidase (NOX) is an enzyme complex that produces superoxide anion and reactive oxygen species (ROS).

According to AptaBio, APX-NEW demonstrated that it is possible to effectively improve dopamine nerve loss and motor impairment by reducing the accumulation and protein aggregation of alpha-synuclein. This is a protein that helps nerve transmission between brain cells and is the main cause of Parkinson's disease.

Through an animal model using alpha-synuclein-preformed fibrils (PFF), AptaBio confirmed the treatment effects of APX-NEW and that NOX protein plays a very pivotal role in the abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein and the development of Parkinson's disease.

Moreover, the expression of NOX 1, 2, and 4 proteins in the brain tissue of the animal model increased at a high rate, showing a very close correlation with the expression of alpha-synuclein. Accordingly, it was shown that when APX-NEW (Comp-11) was applied, the expression of NOX 1, 2, and 4 proteins in the brain tissue was inhibited, and alpha-synuclein was also reduced in a concentration-dependent manner.

“We found that NOX proteins act as a key mechanism in the accumulation of alpha-synuclein,” an AptaBio official said. "We expect that regulating oxidative stress by inhibiting the function of NOX proteins will be an innovative solution to treat Parkinson's disease."

He added that the company will speed up the development of treatments based on the results of this study to gain a technical advantage in the Parkinson's disease treatment market.

AptaBio jointly conducted a study on the treatment of Parkinson's disease with a research team led by Professor Kim Yong-hwan of the University of Delaware in April this year and published the results in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.