Alzheon
Alzheon is an American clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Framingham, Massachusetts.[1] The company is developing medicines for patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other neurological and psychiatric disorders.[2]
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Type | Private |
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Industry | Pharmaceutical |
Founded | 2013 |
Headquarters | Framingham, Massachusetts, United States |
Key people | Martin Tolar, MD, PhD (CEO) Neil Flanzraich (Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors) |
Website | www |
History
Alzheon was founded in July 2013 by Martin Tolar, MD, PhD, a veteran of Alzheimer’s drug programs,[2] who serves as president and CEO of the organization.[3] Alzheon completed a $10 million Series A round of financing in April 2015[4][5] and started the Phase lb bridging clinical program for ALZ-801, which was completed in July 2016.[6][7]
In August 2018, Alzheon appointed former IVAX President Neil Flanzraich, JD, as Vice Chairman of Board of Directors.[8][9]
In August 2020, Alzheon was awarded a $47 million grant over five years from the U.S. National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. The grant is to support the Phase 3 clinical trial of ALZ-801[10][11]
Pipeline
Alzheon’s leading candidate, ALZ-801, is a prodrug of the active agent tramiprosate that targets soluble amyloid oligomers,[12] and received fast track designation from the FDA in 2017.[10]
ALZ-801 is in Phase 3 clinical development for high-risk homozygous APOE4/4 patients with early Alzheimer’s Disease.[10] Patients with two alleles of APOE4 have up to 20 times the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.[13][14]
References
- Young, Susan (Mar 10, 2016). "Startup Finds Hope in Second Look at "Failed" Alzheimer's Drugs". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- Lash, Alex (11 March 2016). "Failed Alzheimer's Drug To Get Another Shot, If Investors Pony Up". Xconomy. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- Seiffert, Don (March 20, 2015). "Lexington's Alzheon gives its own Alzheimer's news to rival Biogen's". Retrieved August 23, 2016 – via Boston Business Journal.
- Fidler, Ben (8 April 2015). "Alzheon Gets $10M to Take Castoff Alzheimer's Drug Into Pivotal Test". Xconomy. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- Billings, Mike (April 8, 2015). "In a Hot Market, Freestyle Capital Raises Larger Fund". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
- "'Gene-dose' effect for Alzheon's ALZ-801, a drug targeting Alzheimer's". The Pharma Letter. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- Fernandes, PhD, Joana (31 March 2017). "Early Alzheimer's Patients with Risk Gene Respond to ALZ-801 in Studies". Alzheimer's News Today. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- "Alzheon Appoints Former IVAX President, Neil Flanzraich, JD, as Vice Chairman of Board of Directors". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
- "Alzheon Appoints Former IVAX President, Neil Flanzraich, JD, as Vice Chairman of Board of Directors". www.businesswire.com. 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
- "Alzheon receives $47M NIH grant funding its phase III Alzheimer's study". www.bioworld.com. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
- Gormley, Brian (2020-08-20). "Biotechs Tap Growing U.S. Government Support for Alzheimer's Research". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
- Hey, John A.; Kocis, Petr; Hort, Jakub; Abushakra, Susan; Power, Aidan; Vyhnálek, Martin; Yu, Jeremy Y.; Tolar, Martin (2018-09-01). "Discovery and Identification of an Endogenous Metabolite of Tramiprosate and Its Prodrug ALZ-801 that Inhibits Beta Amyloid Oligomer Formation in the Human Brain". CNS Drugs. 32 (9): 849–861. doi:10.1007/s40263-018-0554-0. ISSN 1179-1934. PMC 6153967. PMID 30076539.
- Hauser, Paul S.; Ryan, Robert O. (October 2013). "Impact of Apolipoprotein E on Alzheimer's Disease". Current Alzheimer Research. 10 (8): 809–817. doi:10.2174/15672050113109990156. ISSN 1567-2050. PMC 3995977. PMID 23919769.
- "Apolipoprotein E", Wikipedia, 2020-09-05, retrieved 2020-09-11