Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation Awards Grant To Cohbar To Develop A Novel Peptide Therapeutic

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced today that it has awarded $205,260 in funding to CohBar Inc. to develop a novel mitochondrial peptide for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The peptide has been shown to have neuro-protective effects against a variety of AD-related toxic insults, including amyloid-beta.

Based on a peptide called Humanin, CohBar's peptide acts by preventing neurons from dying, in part by improving mitochondrial function, reducing inflammation, increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing oxidative stress.

"We are excited to support the development of CohBar’s unique peptide, which affects several processes implicated in Alzheimer's disease progression," said Howard Fillit, MD, executive director and chief science officer for the ADDF. "We believe that a compound that targets all of these processes has the potential to be a promising new treatment for patients suffering with this disease."

The ADDF funds will support a year-long research program at CohBar that will include: a) evaluating the ability of the peptides to protect cell lines against a variety of Alzheimer disease related stresses, b) examining evidence that the peptides cross the blood brain barrier and c) an initial evaluation of the efficacy in mice. At the end of the program, researchers at CohBar plan to continue testing in more advanced animal research models of Alzheimer's disease.

"We are pleased to be selected by the ADDF for this peer-reviewed grant, which recognizes the novelty of our scientific approach and the quality of our research capabilities," said Mark Rampy, PhD, chief executive officer of CohBar. "We look forward to working with the ADDF and advancing our research with novel Humanin analogs in the area of Alzheimer's disease."

John Amatuda, MD, co-founder of CohBar, notes there is great potential for evaluating Humanin analogs in Alzheimer's disease as well as other disease areas. "Our unique Humanin analogs hold significant potential as innovative medicines and this award provides critical funding to explore their promise in Alzheimer's disease," he says. "In addition, the association of insulin resistance and Alzheimer's disease, and the interesting finding that Humanin improves hepatic insulin resistance through a central mechanism, provide an intriguing and potentially important link between Humanin’s positive effects on Alzheimer’s disease and its effects to lower glucose in Type 2 diabetes."