First Patients Dosed In Ib Phase Of Neuralstem's NSI-189 Trial In Major Depressive Disorder

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced that the first patients were dosed in Phase Ib of its ongoing trial to test the safety of NSI-189 in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). NSI-189, the lead compound in Neuralstem's small molecule platform, is a proprietary new chemical entity that stimulates new neuron growth in the hippocampus, a region of the brain believed to be implicated in MDD as well as other diseases and conditions, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is the first time the drug will be tested in patients with MDD, as Phase Ia was in healthy volunteers.

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"We are pleased to begin testing the safety of NSI-189 in depression patients," said Karl Johe, PhD, Neuralstem's Board of Directors and Chief Scientific Officer. "We believe it could help patients who suffer from depression via a new mechanism that does not seek to modulate brain chemistry, but rather stimulates new neuron growth in the hippocampus and increases hippocampal volume, thereby potentially addressing the problem at the source."

About NSI-189                       Neuralstem's technology enables the creation of neural stem cell lines from many areas of the human CNS, including the hippocampus.  The hippocampus is a part of the brain involved in memory and the generation of new neurons. It is also implicated in several major neurological and psychiatric diseases. From its hippocampal neural stem cell lines, Neuralstem has created virtually unlimited amounts of mature human neurons and glia in laboratory dishes. These can be used to mimic the natural brain environment in order to test drug effects.

Neuralstem has been engaged in a drug discovery program with these human hippocampal stem cell lines since 2000. In 2009, Neuralstem was granted U.S. patents on four first-in-class chemical entities that boost the generation of new neurons. NSI-189, the first of these to be in a clinical trial, significantly stimulates the generation of new hippocampal neurons (neurogenesis) in vitro and in animal models.

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