Prana Biotechnology : meeting with investors at world’s largest healthcare conference in San Francisco

Prana Biotechnology Ltd (ASX PBT: NASDAQ PRAN) has today lodged an updated investor presentation ahead of investor meetings in San Francisco, USA, from 8-11 January.

More than 35,000 investors will be in San Francisco coinciding with the JP Morgan Healthcare conference, one of the most comprehensive gatherings of specialist healthcare investors in the world.

Prana's Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Stamler, and CEO Geoffrey Kempler, will meet with investors throughout the week. Dr. Stamler is also presenting at the Biotech Showcase at 9.00am on Wednesday 10 January (Hilton Union Square, O'Farrell Street).

Dr. Stamler joined Prana in May 2017 as its Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, Clinical Development. Prior to joining Prana, Dr. Stamler served as Therapeutic Area Head, Movement Disorders for Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE TEVA) following Teva's US$3.5 billion acquisition of Auspex Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Auspex/Teva, Dr. Stamler led the development of Austedo®, a new drug indicated for the treatment of Huntington's disease and tardive dyskinesia. Austedo® was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for both indications in 2017. This was the second neurological agent that Dr. Stamler has led through the approval process with the FDA.

Prana Biotechnology is developing first-in-class therapies to treat orphan and non-orphan neurological diseases. Prana's lead program, PBT434, is the first of a new generation of small molecules designed to block iron-mediated accumulation and aggregation of alpha-synuclein, an abundant brain protein widely believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and related disorders.

Alpha-synuclein is a soluble, intracellular protein critical for neurotransmission that aggregates in disease. PBT434 blocks the formation of toxic forms of alpha-synuclein, thus preventing the downstream effects that lead to cellular dysfunction and death. There is evidence in several animal models of disease that PBT434 prevents neuronal loss and improves motor and/or cognitive impairments. Based on this evidence and completed non-clinical studies, Prana is preparing for a first in-human study in 2018.

Affecting more than 10 million people worldwide, Parkinsonian movement disorders are best known for impaired motor function, gait and balance problems and disturbances in cognition, sleep, behaviour as well as bowel and bladder function. The non-motor symptoms cause significant morbidity in these patients and in the atypical forms of Parkinsonism, such as multiple system atrophy, they are among the most troublesome symptoms to treat. Treatment of atypical Parkinsonism is symptomatic and has limited utility. There are no approved treatments that modify disease progression.

Prana's research collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceuticals International covers the study of PBT434's ability to prevent neurodegeneration in the gastrointestinal system - an important non-motor feature - often presenting early as severe disabling impairment as part of Parkinson's disease. The partnership follows the recently publicised results that demonstrate a significant reduction of alpha-synuclein in various pre-clinical models of Parkinson's disease.

Limited meeting spots are available by contacting Rebecca Wilson at rwilson@we-worldwide.com