New home for BDNF

BDNF's clinical track record has been less than stellar and includes a Phase III failure in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A group at the University of California, San Diego attributes past failures to ineffective drug delivery that didn't get enough of the growth factor to the proper locations. The group is trying a gene delivery approach in Alzheimer's disease and has demonstrated BDNF's neuroprotective effects across a panel of rodent and primate models.¹

By targeting the entorhinal cortex region of the brain, the team showed that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) prevented neurodegeneration and decreased cognitive deficits in multiple models of AD...