founded singapore 2002 founder professor claude wischik dr k. m. seng number of locations singapore and aberdeen scotland key people professor claude wischik executive chairman dr shay way seng managing director website taurx therapeutics taurx therapeutics ltd is a life sciences pharmaceutical company incorporated in singapore with primary research facilities and operations in aberdeen scotland . 1 2 the company was co founded in 2002 by the late gynecologist surgeon and venture capitalist k. m. seng and claude wischik professor of old age psychiatry at the university of aberdeen scotland who is currently the company s executive chairman . the company s protein aggregation inhibitors target the underlying pathology of dementia with the aim of modifying or halting disease progression . their lead compound lmtx targets aggregation of tau and is believed to act on synuclein tdp 43 and huntingtin protein . its primary development in alzheimer s disease is focused in its activity as a tau aggregation inhibitor tai . 3 4 5 6 contents 1 history 2 lmtx 3 references 4 external links history edit in 1988 while at cambridge university wischik and coworkers discovered that abnormal fibres of tau protein form inside nerve cells in patients with alzheimer s disease and that their aggregation into tau tangles correlates to the development of dementia . in 1997 wischik and his team moved to the university of aberdeen where they continued their research into tau pathology and protein aggregation inhibition . in 2002 the company was formed as a spin out of the university of aberdeen . methylthioninium chloride a first generation tau aggregation inhibitor tai was used in phase 2 clinical trials in alzheimer s. 7 8 the phase 2 compared 3 dosages of methylthioninium chloride . 9 in 2012 phase 3 clinical trials were starting with leucomethylthioninium salts lmtx for mild and moderate alzheimer s disease and behavioral variant ftd bvftd . lmtx edit lmtx is a stable anhydrous reduced form of methylthioninium chloride . 10 fig 1a chloride is replaced by bromide or methanesulfonate . one of these is undergoing a phase 3 clinical trial for safety and efficacy in mild ad as trx0237 . 11 the results of the trial were released in july 2016 . as a whole patients who participated in the trial did not show significant benefits from receiving the lmtx . taurx has presented a post hoc subgroup analysis suggesting that a small group of patients in the trial who were taking only lmtx without any other alzheimer s medication did show significant improvement . 11 12 however this characterization of the secondary analysis results has been challenged on statistical grounds and based on the fact that an inappropriate placebo group was used in the comparison . 13 references edit whalen jeanne 2012 11 09 . an outcast among peers gains traction on alzheimer s cure . wall street journal . retrieved 2013 03 27 . marchione marilynn 2008 07 30 . experimental alzheimer s drug shows early promise . associated press . retrieved 2008 07 31 . wischik cm edwards pc lai ry roth m harrington cr october 1996 . selective inhibition of alzheimer disease like tau aggregation by phenothiazines . proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america . 93 20 11213 8 . doi 10.1073 pnas .93.20.11213 . pmc 38310 . pmid 8855335 . wischik cm lai ry harrington cr 1997 . modelling prion like processing of tau protein in alzheimer s disease for pharmaceutical development . in brandt r avila j kosik ks . brain microtubule associated proteins modifications in disease . amsterdam harwood acad . publ . pp. 185 241 . isbn 978 90 5702 173 2 . wischik cm wischik dj storey jm harrington cr 2010 . beta amyloid tau protein and glucose metabolism . in martinez a. emerging drugs and targets for alzheimer s disease . 1 . cambridge royal society of chemistry . pp. 210 232 . isbn 978 1 84973 064 8 . taniguchi s suzuki n masuda m hisanaga s iwatsubo t goedert m hasegawa m march 2005 . inhibition of heparin induced tau filament formation by phenothiazines polyphenols and porphyrins . the journal of biological chemistry . 280 9 7614 23 . doi 10.1074 jbc.m408714200 . pmid 15611092 . wischik cm bentham p wischik dj seng km 2008 . tau aggregation inhibitor tai therapy slows disease progression in mild and moderate alzheimer s disease over 50 weeks . alzheimer s and dementia . p. t167 . retrieved 2012 10 01 . wilkinson emma 2006 07 29 . alzheimer s drug halts decline . bbc . retrieved 2008 07 29 . wischik cm staff rt wischik dj bentham p murray ad storey jm kook ka harrington cr 2015 . tau aggregation inhibitor therapy an exploratory phase 2 study in mild or moderate alzheimer s disease . journal of alzheimer s disease . 44 2 705 20 . doi 10.3233 jad 142874 . pmid 25550228 . complex disposition of methylthioninium redox forms determines efficacy in tau aggregation inhibitor therapy for alzheimer s disease a b safety and efficacy study evaluating trx0237 in subjects with mild alzheimer s disease . clinicaltrials.gov . 2 november 2015 . retrieved 2 november 2015 . coghlan andy 28 july 2016 . alzheimer s drug that failed trial may still slow disease . new scientist . retrieved 29 july 2016 . fagan tom 29 july 2016 . in first phase 3 trial the tau drug lmtm did not work . period . . alzforum . retrieved 31 july 2016 . external links edit official site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title taurx therapeutics & oldid 732816409 categories pharmaceutical companiescompanies of singapore navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print 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