Auris Medical Highlights Publication of Study Results Demonstrating Betahistine’s Antiepileptogenic and Anticonvulsant Acti...
February 25 2020 - 7:30AM
Hamilton, Bermuda, February 25, 2020 - Auris
Medical Holding AG (NASDAQ: EARS), a clinical-stage company
dedicated to developing therapeutics that address important unmet
medical needs in neurotology and central nervous system disorders,
today highlighted the publication of an article describing the
anti-epileptic and anti-convulsive activity of betahistine in a
mouse model. The peer-reviewed article titled “Betahistine prevents
kindling, ameliorates the behavioral comorbidities and
neurodegeneration induced by pentylenetetrazole” was recently
published in Epilepsy & Behavior, a fast growing international
journal covering behavioral aspects of seizures and epilepsy.1
The article was written by an independent
Iranian research group and presents the outcomes of a study on the
effects of betahistine on seizure scores, memory deficits,
depression, and neuronal loss in a murine model of epilepsy.
Seizure was induced by treatment with pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), a
common protocol in epilepsy studies. The researchers found that
pretreatment and repetitive treatment with intraperitoneal
betahistine entirely prevented generalized tonic-clonic seizures
induction and significantly diminished seizure intensity. Further,
it decreased cell death in the hippocampus and cortex, suggesting a
neuroprotective effect of betahistine, and ameliorated the memory
deficit and depression induced by PTZ in the kindled animals.
“The exciting outcomes from this study
supplement results from earlier studies which showed that an
increase in central histamine level suppresses convulsion activity
and provides neuroprotection,” commented Thomas Meyer, Auris
Medical’s founder, Chairman and CEO. “Importantly, they also
suggest further potential therapeutic uses for betahistine. While
betahistine is currently approved and used world-wide for the
treatment of vertigo, there is a growing body of evidence that the
drug also enhances learning, cognitive function, atypical
depression, or wakefulness, and reduces antipsychotic-induced
weight gain. With our AM-125 project, we are targeting the vertigo
indication with an intranasal formulation of betahistine that
provides significantly higher plasma exposure than the current oral
formulation, and with our AM-201 project, we are targeting
antipsychotic-induced weight gain and somnolence and have started
to expand into other therapeutic areas.”
About Betahistine
Betahistine is a small molecule structural
analog of histamine, which acts as an agonist at the H1 and as an
antagonist at the H3 histamine receptors. Unlike histamine, it
crosses the blood-brain-barrier. It is known to enhance inner ear
and cerebral blood flow, increase histamine turnover and enhance
histamine release in the brain, increase release of acetylcholine,
dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain and to result in general
brain arousal. Betahistine for oral administration is approved in
about 115 countries, with the US being a notable exception, for the
treatment of vertigo and Meniere’s disease. The compound has a very
good safety profile, yet it is also known that its clinical utility
is held back by poor bioavailability. Intranasal administration of
betahistine has been shown to result in 5 to 29 times higher
bioavailability.
About Auris Medical
Auris Medical is a biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to developing therapeutics that address important unmet
medical needs in neurotology and CNS disorders. The company is
focused on the development of intranasal betahistine for the
treatment of vertigo (AM-125) and for the prevention of
antipsychotic-induced weight gain and somnolence (AM-201). These
projects have gone through two Phase 1 trials and moved into
proof-of-concept studies in 2019. In addition Auris Medical has two
Phase 3 programs under development: Sonsuvi® (AM-111) for acute
inner ear hearing loss and Keyzilen® (AM-101) for acute inner ear
tinnitus. The Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in
Hamilton, Bermuda with its main operations in Basel, Switzerland.
The shares of Auris Medical Holding Ltd. trade on the NASDAQ
Capital Market under the symbol “EARS.”
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uncertainties also include, but are not limited to, those described
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on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018, and in Auris
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actual results may vary materially from those indicated. All
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You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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Investor contact: Joseph Green Edison Advisors
for Auris Medical 646-653-7030 jgreen@edisongroup.com
Or
investors@aurismedical.com
1 Yazdi A et al. (2020), Betahistine prevents kindling,
ameliorates the behavioral comorbidities and neurodegeneration
induced by pentylenetetrazole, Epilepsy Behav 105: 106956.
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