From Tobacco Row to the Lab: Targacept Expands to Light Up Alzheimer’s Treatment

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Like most other biotech companies with promising drug candidates moving successfully through the development process, Targacept, Incorporated (NASDAQ:TRGT)(Winston Salem, North Carolina) has decided that it is time to add more lab and office space. What makes this particular company a bit more unusual than most is where its roots lie. Targacept evolved out of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (NYSE:RAI) (Winston Salem, North Carolina), the country’s second largest cigarette manufacturer, a bunch not exactly celebrated for promoting good health. While Targacept does not deny its origin, it has done a neat job of at least somewhat burying the past as its nicotinic (nicotine-based) product pipeline evolves. Reynolds spun off the company in 2000.

Targacept focuses on NNR Therapeutics (TM), a new class of drugs for the treatment of central nervous system diseases and disorders. The tobacco connection comes into play from the fact that the company’s product candidates selectively modulate neuronal nicotinic receptors. Its lead drug candidate is AZD3480 (TC-1734), a treatment for Alzheimer's disease and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. In December 2006, Swiss drug maker AstraZeneca renewed its collaboration with the company in development of AZD3480, along with a payment of $20 million. Targacept has several other promising products in various stages of clinical trials for conditions including anxiety, post-operative pain and depression.

Targacept currently resides in 40,000 square feet of lab and office space spread over two floors in a building located within the Piedmont Triad Research Park (PTRP) (Winston Salem, North Carolina). The PTRP is owned by Wake Forest University Health Services, which has just expanded the company’s lease to include almost 20,000 additional square feet of lab and office space on a third floor.

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