News

The U.S. Congress last week authorized an additional 40 percent in funds for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research, boosting the fiscal 2017 total by $400 million to nearly $1.4 billion as part of a $2 billion year-over-year increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The final package won praise from the nonprofit…

The Alzheimer’s therapy ALZ-801 works by preventing protein components from clumping together to trigger the amyloid plaque accumulation in the brain that causes the disease, researchers say. Disease-modifying drugs for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases could evolve from the findings, the team said. Researchers knew that tramiprosate, the active ingredient in …

The schizophrenia medication Rexulti (brexpiprazole) reduced agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, newly released data from two Phase 3 clinical trials of the drug show. The studies highlight that efforts are ongoing to target symptoms — other than dementia itself — to improve the quality of life of Alzheimer’s…

The Dementia Discovery Fund will pump $5 million in initial financing into Cerevance, a start-up developing new approaches to treating dementia patients, 60 percent of whom have Alzheimer’s disease. The venture capital fund invests in companies and projects pursuing disease-modifying therapies for dementia. Cerevance has dual headquarters in Boston…

Memory loss and cognitive dysfunction, two hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, have now been linked to low levels of one particular protein, called NPTX2. The discovery represents a stepping-stone in the mechanisms underlying this disease, which may help in the development of new therapies. The study, “NPTX2 and cognitive dysfunction in…

Neurotrope‘s investigational drug bryostatin might improve cognition and the ability of patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease to care for themselves, according to a Phase 2 trial. The placebo-controlled trial (NCT02431468) evaluated the safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of bryostatin in 147 people with Alzheimer’s…

Canada’s ProMIS Neurosciences today presented the latest results of its Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic program and discussed its lead candidate drug PMN 310 on the final day of the April 22-28 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston. The company’s chief development officer, Johanne Kaplan, presented the poster, “Achieving the optimal profile…

Aquinnah Pharmaceuticals has received $10 million from two pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and AbbVie, to advance its treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases toward clinical trials. Together with a previous investment from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Aquinnah’s research and development support totals $15 million. “We…

Oryzon Genomics is receiving $300,000 from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation to continue developing its Alzheimer’s treatment ORY-2001. In exchange, the foundation, which has been a longtime partner of Oryzon, will receive shares of the company’s stock. Oryzon develops epigenetics therapies, which regulate genome function without affecting the makeup of genes…

Results from four recent studies confirmed the beneficial clinical effects of Namenda (memantine), an FDA-approved Alzheimer’s therapy, to treat the disease’s behavioral and functional symptoms in people with moderate to severe disease. The studies, sponsored by Allergan, are being presented in poster format at the 2017 annual meeting of the American…