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NeuroGenomeX, Inc. (NGX) is a pre–clinical drug development company engaged in the discovery and in vivo validation of drugs to treat Central Nervous System (“CNS”) disorders. The focus of NGX technology is development of drugs for CNS disorders involving neuronal gene expression and neural plasticity, which is the ability of neurons and brain circuits to undergo modification. NGX is currently advancing its first lead drug candidate, 2–deoxy–D–glucose (2DG) through pre–clinical development with anticipation of filing an Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for 2DG as an anticonvulsant with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), leading to human clinical trials. 2DG is a variant of glucose (sugar) and the fluorinated derivative 18F–2DG has been used since 1979 as a non–metabolized form of sugar for brain PET imaging studies. Discoveries by scientists at the University of Wisconsin, including NGX co–founder Thomas Sutula, unexpectedly revealed therapeutic actions of 2DG as an anticonvulsant. In addition to providing a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of epilepsy, continuing work at the University of Wisconsin (UW) also has shown promise for application of 2DG in other disorders such as the prevention of cancer metastasis, neuropathic pain, and disorders in which gene expression is regulated by glycolytic metabolism (the metabolic processing of sugar). The UW patents on all human therapeutic applications of 2DG have been licensed exclusively to NGX. The novel mechanism of action of 2DG is anticipated to have therapeutic effectiveness for the ~15% of intractable epilepsy patients whose seizures are not at all controlled by current anticonvulsant drugs. In addition, the unique mode of action of 2DG is likely to benefit the ~35% of epilepsy patients whose seizures are only partially controlled by the existing drugs. Since there are side–effects associated with taking the existing drugs, 2–DG’s unique mode of action could be a novel addition to therapy for some of the 50% of the epilepsy population who are inadequately treated with current drugs. |