NEW YORK, March 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. (OTCBB:ILNS), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of treatments for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, issued the following Letter to Shareholders from Dr. Daniel Chain, Chairman and CEO.
Dear Shareholder,
I would like to take this opportunity to update you briefly regarding my recent trip to Europe, which included 27 meetings in 10 days! The vast majority of these meetings had to do with the strategic plan I outlined in my letter to you of February 13, 2013: namely, to move forward aggressively with our CONJUMAB-A and tau immunotherapy programs, which have attracted interest from the pharmaceutical industry and institutional investors, especially in Europe.
I first attended the 11th Annual Conference on Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease from March 6-10. The conference provided the opportunity to meet with colleagues from the industry, as well as speak with several opinion leaders who shared their insights with me. A foremost topic of discussion centered on the FDA's new guidelines published in February this year, titled Guidance for Industry Alzheimer's Disease: Developing Drugs for the Treatment of Early Stage Disease. Taken at face value, the new guidelines are encouraging and represent an important departure from the FDA's previous position, in that they are designed to facilitate and accelerate AD drug development. At the same time, several industry experts cautioned against reading too much into the guidelines, stressing that the FDA has yet to ratify its position and will need to consider each New Drug Application on a case-by-case basis.
The conference comprised several interesting scientific presentations concerning the underlying pathophysiology of AD, as well as the potential of various therapeutic approaches. Not surprisingly, there were a large number of presentations centered on tau protein, which has become regarded as a key neurotoxicity mediator leading to irreversible damage and death of nerve cells. I was encouraged by several examples of assays being developed to evaluate drug compounds targeting tau that could be helpful to Intellect.
My next stop was the Bio-Europe Spring Conference held March 11-13. It was important for several reasons. First, it allowed me to present the company to a well-attended forum of industry specialists who clearly were interested to learn about our pipeline and strong partnering potential. People were fascinated to hear about our CONJUMAB platform and its initial focus on retinal degeneration. Second, the conference allowed me to conduct many one-on-one meetings, most of which were pre-arranged. Some of these meetings were with large pharmaceutical companies to discuss potential partnering relationships. Other pre-arranged meetings were with specialist contract research organizations and regulatory specialists that can help enormously with creating a high-value drug compound dossier to facilitate partnering activities in the future. I was pleased to discover a number of newly developed sophisticated tools that could be applied to test and optimize Intellect's drug candidates. Finally, the conference created an environment that encouraged new introductions and helped expand Intellect's network and visibility.
Back in New York, we have been exceedingly busy following up on ongoing licensing conversations and adding further detail to the development programs so that we are in position to proceed aggressively pending securing adequate financial resources.
Thank you for your continued support of Intellect and its important mission to create a world without Alzheimer's disease and other debilitating neurodegenerative diseases.
Sincerely,
Daniel Chain, PhD
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Safe Harbor Statement Regarding Forward-‐Looking Statements:
The statements in this release and oral statements made by representatives of Intellect Neurosciences relating to matters that are not historical facts (including, without limitation, those regarding future performance or financial results, the timing or potential outcomes of research collaborations or clinical trials, any market that might develop for any of Intellect's product candidates and the sufficiency of Intellect's cash and other capital resources) are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the likelihood that actual performance or results could materially differ, that future research will prove successful, the likelihood that any product in the research pipeline will receive regulatory approval in the United States or abroad, or Intellect's ability to fund such efforts with or without partners. Intellect undertakes no obligation to update any of these statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as to the date hereof. Accordingly, any forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the additional risks and uncertainties detailed in Intellect's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those discussed in Intellect's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (file no. 333-128226), filed on February 12, 2013 and the risk factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in Intellect's Annual Report on Form 10-K (file no. 333-128226), filed on October 15, 2012.