Link between immune system and brain diseases to be researched by Lundbeck

Danish CNS specialist drugmaker Lundbeck (LUN: CO) is involved in new groundbreaking research that will investigate a novel link that could show a relationship between the immune system and mood disorders, such as depression and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's.

This project, a public-private partnership also involving The Wellcome Trust, Cambridge University and pharmaceutical company Janssen, part of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), may be the first step towards a new and significantly improved treatment for a broad range of brain diseases, said Lundbeck.

The main theory that the project will investigate is that the immune system can worsen brain diseases like depression and Alzheimer's disease. An imbalance in the immune system of the brain can drive a permanent and unhealthy neuro-inflammation - or inflammation in the brain - that can contribute to or cause brain diseases. Another sub-theory for investigation is that the immune system can improve brain diseases if it is triggered in the right way.

"Neuro-inflammation has been increasingly implicated as a key player in a wide range of brain disorders including depression and Alzheimer's disease. This partnership is an exciting opportunity for us to increase our understanding of the important role of emerging immune and neuronal interactions in these disorders. We believe it can point us toward new avenues to develop breakthrough treatments for the patients," says Stevin Zorn, executive vice president Lundbeck Research USA.

Wellcome Trust supports Lundbeck with about $8 million award

This new project is a public-private partnership between Lundbeck and Janssen, and seven universities. The project has received a strategic award valued at approximately DKK 50 million Danish kroner ($8.25 million) from the Wellcome Trust - one of the world's largest private funders in the field of medical research.

A recent white paper published in the international scientific journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery highlights the ‘disturbing' lack of new drugs for the 10% of the global population affected by brain diseases. The white paper estimates that the global economic cost of mental health disorders in 2010 was about $2.5 trillion, with a projected cost for 2030 of $6 trillion.

John Isaacs, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust says: "It has proved incredibly hard to develop drugs to treat depression and Alzheimer's, and our existing drugs are often not very effective. This project is taking a new approach by looking at the immune system, which we already have an advanced understanding of and we know affects the brain, and seeing whether we can use that knowledge to indirectly treat mental illness."

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