DEVELOPMENT OF CARBOXYFULLERENE DRUGS TO TREAT ALS

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Studies show that fullerene-based antioxidants make excellent neuroprotectants, and they have demonstrated good efficacy in models for a wide array of oxidative neurological disorders including arnyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease and brain injury resulting from ischemic stroke. These results suggest that neuroprotective pharmaceuticals are one of the most unique, yet important and commercially viable applications of fullerenes to date. Although it shows great promise as a neuroprotectant drug useful in treating ailments such as ALS and Parkinson's disease for which better treatments are desperately needed, the derivatized fullerene compounds are currently too expensive and cannot be produced in sufficient quantities for clinical testing or to treat patients. During Phase I, we developed several new techniques that allow efficient production of a carboxyfullerene pharmaceutical compound. With continued development, we anticipate that by the completion of the project, it will be possible to economically manufacture enough of the fullerene- based neuroprotectant for clinical trials to begin.