The startup’s unique technology allows to halt the development of the short memory impairment that is characteristic of the patients with various neurodegenerative diseases.
Primer Capital Venture Fund invested in a US-based company. The startup’s unique technology allows to halt the development of the short memory impairment that is characteristic of the patients with various neurodegenerative diseases. The portfolio of Primer Capital now includes 11 projects from Russia, USA, Israel and France.
The startup is currently completing the Phase I clinical trials in healthy elderly volunteers and patients with dementia in the United States. The investments will be used for conducting adaptive clinical trials in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and financing the company’s development in the relating fields, such as Parkinson’s disease and hearing loss.
According to some estimates, the number of patients suffering from dementia will reach 74.7 mln people by the year 2030 and the yearly cost of care might exceed $2 trn. One of the main issues for dementia patients and their families is the progressive memory impairment leading to the loss of independence and need for continuous supervision.
Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by complex multifactorial pathological mechanism and the vast range of clinical manifestations, but memory impairment, particularly the difficulty in remembering recent events, is their common trait.
Current standards of care for dementia patients are mainly focused on the alleviation of symptoms and the normalization of the levels of neurotransmitters, but these approaches don’t slow down the development of memory impairment. At the moment there is no effective therapeutic solution for the prevention of memory loss and preservation of cognitive functions on the market.
The startup’s lead candidate is a unique drug product developed by the experts in the field of neurodegenerative diseases dermatology that offers a completely new therapeutic option for patients with dementia. The drug has shown high efficiency in preservation of memory and cognitive functions in animal models and an excellent safety profile, according to the results of clinical trials.
“We believe it is a promising drug candidate that causes stable changes in the brain structure, which may slow down and partially reverse the neurodegenerative changes and the development of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s patients,” – mentions Elizaveta Rozhdestvenskaya, Executive Director of Primer Capital.
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Primer Capital (founded in 2015) is a venture capital fund that invests in companies developing promising biotechnological and medical products for various sectors of the pharmaceutical market. Now the fund’s portfolio includes 11 projects from all over the world in the field of oncology, cardiovascular diseases, dermatology, IT and AI solutions. Primer Capital works in partnership with organizations such as OCT, the Skolkovo Foundation, the Internet Initiatives Development Foundation (IIDF), the North-West Center for Technology Transfer, the Moscow Innovation Agency.
