Phytopharm gets $1.2M grant from MJFF for Cogane

Cambridgeshire, UK-based Phytopharm, a pharmaceutical and functional food development firm, says it has been awarded $1.16 million in funding by the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to support the development of its drug Cogane (PYM50028) for the treatment of the disease. In preclinical studies conducted last year (Marketletter June 25, 2007), the compound was shown to reverse changes in an area of the brian involved in PD via the induction of protective neurotrophic factors. These included a protein factor known as GDNF, which has been shown to stimulate the re-growth of nerves damaged by progression of the disease.