Curidium Discovers Significant Diagnostic Gene Expression Profiles In Blood Of Schizophrenia And Bipolar Patients

Main Category: Schizophrenia
Also Included In: Bipolar;  Medical Devices / Diagnostics;  Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 22 Mar 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Curidium Medica plc, (LSE: CUR) today announced that it has discovered the existence of four unique and statistically significantly different (p<0.001) diagnostic gene expression profiles in blood samples from schizophrenia/bipolar disorder patients. Using Homomatrix, Curidium's proprietary tool, the gene expression profiles of 115 schizophrenia/bipolar disorder patients and matched controls were analysed. These expression profiles were the result of whole genome screening using the Affymetrix Genechip(TM) technology. The result of this analysis showed that each patient/control was a member of only one of four subgroups and each subgroup was associated with a unique and finite number of genes. These results in blood are in line with the results from two separate brain studies announced previously by the Company. The genes identified in each subgroup include known and novel drug targets and biomarkers, and the Company is in the process of determining the specificity and sensitivity of a potential blood diagnostic test.

"Curidium's Homomatrix, which uses gene expression analysis as a tool to identifying new drug targets and treatments, is a very powerful approach," said Professor David A. Collier, Ph.D. of The Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK, "The Company's novel approach of using systematic expression data analysis to identify biological patterns which occur in brain and in accessible tissues such as blood, is likely to provide clinicians with valuable decision making and diagnostic tools as well as new targets for pharmaceutical development."

"It is very encouraging that the Homomatrix analyses remain so consistent and reproducible in our examination of the expression profiles from the brains and blood of schizophrenic and bipolar disorder patients," stated Dr. Anne Bruinvels, CEO of Curidium Medica plc, "Initial data indicate that the potential blood diagnostic will achieve the necessary regulatory criteria to become a valuable tool in clinical drug development and in the market place potentially as a companion diagnostic."

About Homomatrix(R)

Homomatrix is a fully automated analysis tool that uses proprietary pattern recognition tools and sequences of mathematical algorithms together with state-of-the-art statistical methods to objectively analyse large sets of gene expression and biological data from heterogeneous populations. These analyses can potentially lead to the development of diagnostics that identify treatment-responsive patients and/or patient subgroups, signalling pathways as well as drug targets. It is anticipated that Homomatrix could be of significant value in the drug development arena where the "most likely to respond" patients could be pre-selected to clinical trials.

About Schizophrenia/Bipolar Disorder

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterised in the active phase by hallucinations, delusions, disorganised thoughts/speech, disorganised or catatonic behaviour, and apathy. It is estimated that 1% of the general population suffer from schizophrenia.

Bipolar affective disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a mental illness involving episodes of serious mania and depression. The person's mood usually swings from overly "high" and irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, with periods of normal mood in between. It is estimated that 0.5% of the general population suffer from bipolar affective disorder.

The global market for anti-psychotics, which are used to treat schizophrenia and frequently bipolar affective disorder was valued at USD12.5 billion in 2004 and is expected to grow to USD20.5 billion by 2009 (The CNS Market Outlook to 2010, Reuters Business Insights, 2005).

Further information about schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder can be found at http://www.schizophrenia.com or http://www.moodswing.org.

About Curidium

Curidium is a company focused on identifying targeted medicines to treat patients more effectively. Through the application of its proprietary technology, Homomatrix, Curidium analyses biological data (mRNA/protein data) from patients suffering from complex or multi-factorial diseases. Patient populations with complex disorders are known to be heterogeneous and only certain sub-groups of patients respond to a specific treatment. Curidium believes that Homomatrix will ultimately allow for the development of the right drug for the right patient. The Company files patents around the genes and drug targets that are associated with the specific subgroups of patients.

Further information on Curidium can be found at the Company's website: http://www.curidium.com.

Curidium Medica plc
http://www.curidium.com

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