New products to combat symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases

Neurological diseases, especially those that appear in older ages (such as dementia, or other, more serious diseases like Alzheimer’s disease) cause huge health, social and economical problems. The lack of success in developing drugs that target neurodegenerative diseases can be explained with the fact that selectively affecting only one pharmacological target is simply not enough. Our approach was based on the hypothesis that memory impairment in elder patients and neurodegenerative diseases can be originated from several pathophysiological mechanisms and their causes. Since the classic procedure of drug development takes a long time and needs an enormous amount of money, our alternative strategy is based on an alternative solution: we developed food supplements (neutraceuticals) with diverse positive effects for elder patients with memory impairment, bMEMORY and as prophylaxis for elderly with no serious memory impairment, bHEALTH. It is well known that a lot of food supplyers developing memory improvement products, exist on the market, although usually without specific investigations, they rely on solely literature data. Moreover most of the products have not been studied for long term side effects. During our development which was funded by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI) Fund, Momentum of Innovation, Hungary, we focused on thoroughly testing of active agents that are already known and new active agents of natural origin. Screening was performed with strategies focusing on the three main properties of neurodegenerative disorders: molecular stress factors with different mechanisms, inflammatory mechanisms of the brain, and decrease in memory functions. Effects blocking the abovementioned pathways were tested in animal models testing complex memory functions, behavior and clinical side effects. During the project Avidin Ltd developed combinations of novel agents and active substances (ie. fungus and plant derived natural compounds) positively acting on neurodegeneration. The research and development resulted in products that were registered in Hungary.