ATHE - Alterity stock rises ~10% as ATH434 shows promise in Parkinson's animal model study

Alterity Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: ATHE ) stock rose ~10% on Monday after the company said that a study published in the journal Neurotherapeutics showed that its drug ATH434 was neuroprotective in a genetic model of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in an animal model.

The publication titled, 'ATH434 Rescues Pre?motor Hyposmia in a Mouse Model of Parkinsonism' assessed the impact of ATH434 on motor and non-motor deficits in mice with genetically induced PD, the company added.

Alterity said that Hyposmia, defined as reduced sensitivity to odor, is an early and common non-motor symptom of PD which precedes the typical motor symptoms by several years, occurring in ~90% of early-stage cases of PD.

The study found that ATH434 prevented a loss of smell in the younger mice and rescued it in older mice, according to the company.

The authors also showed that ATH434 prevented the development of motor impairment in older animals, which was linked with a reduction in iron levels and preservation of neurons in the substantia nigra, the brain region affected in PD, Alterity noted.

The company said that the data supported other studies suggesting that ATH434 has a beneficial effect on the motor and non-motor symptoms in animal models of PD.

"This publication provides further evidence that ATH434 has the potential to be neuroprotective in humans," said Alterity CEO David Stamler.

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