Many drugs for fragile X syndrome have failed in large clinical trials, but candidates that target new aspects of the condition may fare better.
Read moreSpectrum News – Newly Discovered Aspects of Fragile X Spur Next Wave of Drugs
lovastatin
Lovamix: Clinical Trial of Combined Treatment of Minocycline and Lovastatin in Fragile X Syndrome
With a $66,714 grant from the FRAXA Research Foundation awarded over 2015-2017, Dr. Francois Corbin at the Universite of Sherbrooke will test the safety and synergistic effects of lovastatin and minocycline in patients with Fragile X syndrome.
Read moreMechanisms of Tolerance to Chronic mGluR5 Inhibition
Over the past few years, both Novartis and Roche sponsored large-scale clinical trials of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5) negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) to treat Fragile X syndrome (FXS). With a $90,000 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation in 2015-2017, Dr. Mark Bear’s team will explore if mGlu5 NAMs dosed chronically causes tolerance, and if so, how it develops and to probe new avenues to prevent or circumvent it.
Read moreRepurposing Available Drugs to Treat Fragile X Syndrome – FRAXA Initiatives
FRAXA Research Foundation was founded in 1994 to fund biomedical research aimed at finding a cure for Fragile X syndrome and, ultimately, autism. We prioritize translational research with the potential to lead to improved treatments for Fragile X in the near term. Our early efforts involved supporting a great deal of basic neuroscience to understand the cause of Fragile X. By 1996, these efforts had already begun to yield results useful for drug repurposing. To date, FRAXA has funded well over $25 million in research, with over $3 million of that for repurposing existing drugs for Fragile X. Here are some examples of FRAXA-funded work on repurposing available drugs for Fragile X syndrome: Lithium In the mid-1990s, the Greenough lab at the University of Illinois discovered that FMRP, the protein missing in Fragile X, is rapidly translated in dendrites in response to stimulation of glutamate receptors. FRAXA funded preclinical validation of this discovery in theRead more
Enhancement of NMDA Receptor Signaling for the Treatment of Fragile X Syndrome
FRAXA Research Foundation funded a 2016-2017 Fellowship for Dr. Stephanie Barnes in the University of Edinburgh lab of Dr. Emily Osterweil. With this $90,000 award, the team is investigating NMDA signaling in fragile X syndrome mice. $90,000 GrantEmily Osterweil, PhD Principal Investigator Stephanie Barnes, PhD FRAXA Postdoctoral Fellow University of Edinburgh 2016-2017 FRAXA Research Grant $90,000 over 2 Years A Neuron to Remember: Correcting Imbalances in Fragile X SyndromeUniversity of Edinburgh Researcher Emily Osterweil, PhD, Probes the Brain’s Biochemistry to Correct Imbalances We know the “X” in Fragile X refers to the X chromosome, but it could just as easily refer to the unknown.Such as why do people with Fragile X have an excessive production of new proteins in their brains that lead to imbalances? That question is being dissected in the lab of Emily Osterweil, PhD, chancellor’s fellow, Centre for Integrative Physiology, University of Edinburgh, UK. Dr. Osterweil is usingRead more
Double Down: Fragile X Clinical Trial Combines Two Available Drugs
Jean-Francois Lepage, PhD, and Francois Corbin, MD, PhD, with MRI machine If all the science world’s a stage, Fragile X researchers are more than merely players. They are center stage. So believes Francois Corbin, MD, PhD, professor, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada, who directs the university’s Fragile X Clinic. Corbin, who has received more than $100,000 in FRAXA support since 2012, is leading a pilot randomized Phase II trial, exploring the tolerability and the synergistic effect of a combined therapy. They will combine minocycline, which is often used to treat acne, and lovastatin, which is used to lower cholesterol. Both drugs target specific alterations in the brain of Fragile X patients that would potentially have a combined powerful effect on their behavior. “To my knowledge, this is the first time we have a clinical trial with two different drugs combined to act on two different targets,” Corbin said. “The combined actionRead more
FRAXA Grants and Fellowships for Fragile X Research – 2016 Funding Priorities
2016 Funding Priorities Start with Clinical Trials While FRAXA Research Foundation’s research goals remain largely unchanged, the landscape in which we operate has changed significantly in the past few years. Negative results from the major clinical trials of investigational agents have resulted in cessation of development of mGluR5 antagonists for Fragile X syndrome. There is still much evidence that this drug class could be successful as a Fragile X therapeutic, but we do not see the need for more “proof of principle”-type preclinical research on mGluR5 antagonists. Studies of possible mechanisms of tolerance in Fragile X would be appealing as a topic going forward, as would studies of circuit function in Fragile X, since available evidence suggests some form of circuit-based (rather than synaptic) tolerance in Fragile X mice and humans. Other potential areas of interest would include exploration of combination treatment strategies, both in animal models and in clinicalRead more
FRAXA’s 2014 Top Goals
Complete Phase II/III Clinical Trials of mGluR5 Antagonists – and learn results Currently two large pharmaceutical companies – Novartis and Roche – are conducting large-scale clinical trials of experimental new medications for Fragile X syndrome which target the mGluR5 pathway. The Novartis trial has finished enrolling adults and adolescents, while a pediatric trial is set to begin soon. The Roche trial is well on the way to completion as well, but is still enrolling some age groups. FRAXA has been working diligently to educate families about these trials in the hopes of getting them completed as quickly as possible. Our goal (of course) is to discover whether these new drugs could be effective treatments for Fragile X, and to see these trials through to marketing of mGluR5 antagonists for Fragile X. Accelerate Clinical Trials of Investigational Treatments, based on research already funded by FRAXA New treatment strategies have emerged and
Read moreLovastatin Discovery in Fragile X Mice Leads FRAXA to Fund Clinical Trials
Available Medication Lovastatin Corrects Excess Protein Synthesis in Fragile X Mice Dr. Emily Osterweil At the opening dinner of the 2011 FRAXA Investigators Meeting in Southbridge, MA, Dr. Emily Osterweil was awarded the FRAXA Pioneer Award for work demonstrating that Lovastatin could treat Fragile X. Dr. Osterweil conducted her experiments in the MIT laboratory of Dr. Mark Bear; she has since established her own laboratory at the University of Edinburgh. The team discovered that lovastatin, a drug widely prescribed for high cholesterol, can correct excess hippocampal protein synthesis in the mouse model of FXS and can prevent epileptogenesis. The work is published in the prestigious neuroscience journal Neuron: Lovastatin Corrects Excess Protein Synthesis and Prevents Epileptogenesis in a Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome. One implication of the mGluR theory of Fragile X is that there are exaggerated consequences of activation of signaling pathways which link metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) to the cellular machinery ofRead more
Small Rho GTPases, a Potential Therapeutic Target for Fragile X Syndrome
With $384,345 in grants from FRAXA Research Foundation, Dr. MariVi Tejada from the University of Houston focused on a particularly promising point of intervention in pathways of brain receptors, and tested several potential therapeutic compounds in an attempt to rescue function in the mouse model of Fragile X.
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