New international award for innovative treatment of canine cognitive dysfunction

Assist. Urban Košak, PhD., and his team (assist. prof. Damijan Knez, PhD; assoc. prof. Simon Žakelj, PhD; assist. prof. Jurij Trontelj, PhD; assoc. prof. Ilija German Ilić, PhD; prof. Odon Planinšek, PhD and prof. Stanislav Gobec, PhD) won the Award for the Most Innovative Animal Health Project at the prestigious @Biofit Event.

They won first place with a new drug for alleviating symptoms of canine cognitive dysfunction. The drug was developed from scratch at the @University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy  and the @University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine: »We have developed a new selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor that increases brain levels of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter in the brain responsible for memory and learning. Our compound improves the memory, cognitive functions, and learning abilities of mice with induced symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. It is not active only in laboratory animals but in actual patients. Our inhibitor improves the cognitive functions and quality of life of dogs suffering from canine cognitive dysfunction. Most importantly, our compound does not produce the cholinergic adverse effects typical for other drugs that increase brain levels of acetylcholine. We have patented our inhibitor and are looking to license it to an animal or human health pharmaceutical company.«

More information in the following link: https://www.biofit-event.com/2022-pitchers/