Alzheimer’s Drug Researchers with ADDF Grants Gaining Access to New Services

PsychoGenics Inc. and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced a collaboration that opens PsychoGenics’ Alzheimer’s animal models and investigational services to recipients of ADDF grants who are working in preclinical Alzheimer’s drug discovery programs.

Through the collabortion, PsychoGenics will offer its products and services to ADDF-funded biotechnology companies on “extremely favorable financial terms” through risk-sharing agreements, which has the effect of increasing an ADDF grant’s value.

“We are delighted to collaborate with PsychoGenics to make its expertise and services available to our Alzheimer’s research community. This beneficial partnership will allow our critical funding to go further. Together, we will accelerate preclinical drug discovery programs in our portfolio and move closer to our goal of developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Howard Fillit,  ADDF’s executive director and CSO, said in a press release.

PsychoGenics, founded in 1999, specializes in in vivo phenotypic drug discovery. Its proprietary technology platforms are used in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to advance drug discovery for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company offers a variety of behavioral tests and in-licensed transgenic mouse models, including those pertinent to Alzheimer’s research.

ADDF-funded researchers will have access to PsychoGenics’ services that include:

• State-of-the-art electrophysiology
• Behavioral testing using its proprietary Cube technologies
• Micro-dialysis
• Translational EEG
• Several APP and tauopathy animal models
• Range of biochemical methods
• Quantitative histological methods

“We are extremely pleased to align with the ADDF, an organization that enables leading scientists to pursue cutting-edge research projects that might otherwise go unexplored. Programs that apply for ADDF funding go through a very rigorous review process and those that are funded hold great promise,” said Dr. Emer Leahy, president and CEO of PsychoGenics. “Through our risk-sharing arrangement, we can help some of the most promising programs go further and fast track the development of effective therapies for the significant unmet medical needs associated with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and cognitive aging.”

ADDF was founded in 1998 to accelerate the discovery of drugs that might prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It raises money through a venture philanthropy model, and has awarded more than $80 million in support to nearly 500 drug discovery programs and clinical trials in 18 countries.