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Czech Republic Cyclosporin Neuroprotection Patent Granted to Maas
BiolAB Business Editors/Biotechnology Writers ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 2003--Maas BiolAB has been granted Cyclosporin Neuroprotection patent number 291 233 by the Czech Republic Patent Office. The Czech Republic and its 10 million citizens will join the over 400 million people of the European Union in 2004. Cyclosporins protect the brain mitochondria and prevent neuron death in neurological disease. Cyclosporin is effective in preventing brain damage in animal models of sudden onset brain disease, including embolic stroke, global ischemia after CPR rescue from heart attack, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury. The NIH is funding ongoing multi-center USA human trials treating traumatic brain injury with cyclosporin. Cyclosporin also neuroprotects against the slow brain degenerations of the vulnerable neuron populations seen in animal models of Alzheimer's disease (protects septal cholinergic neurons), Parkinson's disease (preserves substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons), Huntington's disease (retains striatal GABAergic interneurons) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (slows the loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord). This Czech patent joins Maas world patents for cyclosporin neuroprotection in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico), European Union (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zimbabwe) and the Antipodes (Australia, New Zealand). Maas BiolAB is a privately held neuropharmaceutical corporation developing cyclosporin formulations for human use, and with industry partners discovering novel, improved neuroprotective cyclosporin analogs. NeuroPharma AB is a wholly owned Maas corporate partner in the Scandinavian Medicon Valley biotech center of Lund, Sweden. For more information please visit www.maasbiolab.com. Maas BiolAB, LLC NeuroPharma AB |