Parkinson’s Disease: V2006
Summary
V2006 is an adenosine A2A receptor antagonist in development as a potential novel treatment for Parkinson's disease. A2A receptor antagonists act indirectly on dopaminergic systems and may possess advantages over conventional dopaminergic therapies. V2006 is anticipated to help restore motor function in patients with Parkinson’s disease with potentially fewer of the side-effects such as nausea and dyskinesia (uncontrolled movements) associated with conventional directly acting dopaminergic treatments.
In June 2004, Vernalis entered into an agreement with Biogen Idec to develop and commercialise V2006. Biogen Idec is conducting and funding future development and will pay milestones and royalties on the successful development and commercialisation of products.
Background
The primary cause of the problems of co-ordination and movement in Parkinsonian patients is nerve degeneration and cell death in the brain, leading to the loss of dopamine, a chemical produced in the part of the brain that is involved in the control of voluntary movement. Most conventional therapies for Parkinson’s disease are based on dopamine replacement. Although generally effective in the short-term, these treatments can have severe, or even disabling, side effects and their effectiveness tends to decrease over time.
Another brain chemical called adenosine also plays an important role in motor co-ordination and movement control. Vernalis believes that by using selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonists to restore the imbalance of the other neurotransmitters caused by the loss of dopamine, it may be able to provide a novel approach to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and to slow or stop the progression of the disease. This hypothesis is supported by pre-clinical research that Vernalis and other companies have carried out with this type of compound, which has shown that motor function in models of Parkinson’s disease can be restored without inducing dopaminergic-like side effects. In particular it is hoped that A2A receptor antagonists can restore function in Parkinson’s disease without inducing unwanted side effects such as nausea and dyskinesias.
Clinical Studies
Vernalis has already demonstrated a number of its compounds to be effective in pre-clinical models of Parkinson’s disease and one candidate, V2006, was selected as a development candidate from the Vernalis A2A antagonist research program in April 2002.
Phase I development of V2006 has been completed by Vernalis. Biogen Idec is conducting and funding future development and will pay milestones and royalties on the successful development and commercialisation of products. Vernalis has an option to co-promote products arising out of this collaboration in the U.S.
Biogen Idec has started a Phase II programme which is investigating V2006 (also known as BIIB014) in combination with L-dopa, in late stage Parkinson's disease patients and as monotherapy, in a placebo-controlled study, in early-stage Parkinson's disease patients.