LAS VEGAS, Feb. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zhittya Genesis Medicine, Inc. (a private company) (“Zhittya” or the “Company”), announced that its latest White Paper, which details results on its breakthrough medical therapy to potentially treat and reverse chronic depression, is now available to the public, free of charge. The White Paper is entitled: “Chronic Depression: Treatable with Therapeutic Angiogenesis?” Zhittya is currently advancing what it believes could be a “disease modifying agent” with the potential to reduce and possibly even reverse the inexorable decline seen in patients who suffer from this devastating disease.
Over the last five years, thanks to the development of more powerful brain imaging systems such as functional MRI, it is now possible to monitor changes in the brain that may be causative factors in major depression. What has emerged from this line of research is that a distinct reduction in blood flow, or perfusion, has been noted in those areas of the brain directly involved in memory, decision making and emotions. This “limbic” area of the brain includes the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex.
Even a minor interference in the small capillaries that supply those areas of the brain can materially reduce the amount of blood getting through to the neurons. The hypothesis holds that an impaired micro-vascularization process in the brain restricts the flow of blood needed for these neurons to remain healthy, resulting in the classical symptoms of chronic depression or major depressive disorder.
Zhittya’s management has been developing a biological drug which, in other United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) clinical trials, has demonstrated it can trigger “therapeutics angiogenesis” or the growth of new blood vessels in ischemic tissues, or those tissues with reduced blood perfusion. In preclinical studies, this drug has shown the ability to induce angiogenesis, which has also led to new neuron growth, or neurogenesis, in animal models for stroke and Parkinson’s disease.
Zhittya has plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the US FDA to advance its drug into a Phase I clinical trial in subjects with chronic depression. In parallel, Zhittya also plans to file for an approval to start a Phase I clinical trial for its chronic depression treatment in Mexico.
Daniel C. Montano, Zhittya’s CEO, stated, “Depression is one of the most prevalent and life-threatening forms of mental illness, affecting roughly 21% of the world’s population and more than 20 million people in the United States alone. A more severe form of the disease known as major depressive disorder, or chronic depression, currently affects more than two million Americans as well. If, as we believe, chronic depression is caused by micro-vascular disruption in the brain, we hope our molecule can do in the brain, what it has already demonstrated it can do in the US FDA heart trial, namely, grow new blood vessels.”
Dr. Jack Jacobs, President and Chief Science Officer of Zhittya Genesis Medicine, added, “Recent brain imaging studies have made it quite evident that chronic depression is associated with pronounced blood perfusion deficits when compared to a healthy individual’s brain scan, especially in the frontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala areas of the brain, areas associated with mood and emotional control. These findings suggest that a therapeutic agent that can increase blood flow in the brain may be an attractive candidate to test in patients with chronic depression. Our drug, known as human fibroblast growth factor 1, or FGF-1, with its ability to increase blood perfusion by stimulating angiogenesis and neurogenesis, may be an ideal candidate to test in patients with chronic depression.”
“According to a study published in the Western Journal of Medicine by the Seattle-based Center for Health Studies, a number of life-threatening diseases that affect other areas of the body often co-present with major depression. For example, subjects with heart disease suffer a high rate of depression, anywhere from 40% to 65%. Furthermore, 40% of Parkinson’s disease patients, 40% of multiple sclerosis patients, and 25% of diabetics suffer from major depression. We are optimistic that therapeutic angiogenesis may also prove beneficial in treating the depression that is associated with these other disorders.”
Zhittya’s White Paper “Chronic Depression: Treatable with Therapeutic Angiogenesis?” is available to the public free of charge. To obtain a copy, please email dan@zhittyamedicine.com.
About Zhittya Genesis Medicine
Zhittya Genesis Medicine, Inc. is advancing a group of drugs which trigger the human body’s natural regeneration process. Our medicine initiates a biological response in the human body referred to as “therapeutic angiogenesis,” which will only occur in diseased tissues that become ischemic due to a lack of blood flow. In those areas with insufficient blood flow, the drug stimulates the growth of new blood vessels, providing nourishment and removing metabolic waste products, thereby re-establishing normal cellular functions. Heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease (PAD) and diabetic foot ulcers are just some of the disorders the drugs can treat. Currently, over 75 human diseases are known to be caused by lack of blood flow to a tissue or organ. The Company’s management has been working to advance its proprietary medicines for over 21 years and has expended in excess of $140 million USD to date in support of these efforts. To learn more, please visit zhittyaregenerativemedicine.com.
Zhittya Contact:
Daniel C. Montano, CEO
Zhittya Genesis Medicine, Inc.
702-790-9980
dan@zhittyamedicine.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Matt Glover and Tom Colton
Gateway Investor Relations
949-574-3860
zhittya@gatewayir.com