Artery has been awarded a NIH–NIA Cooperative Agreement grant, a rigorous highly competitive federal peer-review milestone, to advance CS6253 into clinical trials in Alzheimer’s patients.

Artery has been awarded a NIH–NIA Cooperative Agreement grant, a rigorous highly competitive federal peer-review milestone, to advance CS6253 into clinical trials in Alzheimer’s patients. The program will begin with a pharmacokinetic (PK) CS6253 drug level study, followed by a Phase 2A randomized, placebo-controlled trial in patients with early-stage Alzheimer's who carry the APOE4 gene variant. ​ The APOE4 variant is the strongest known common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, present in 40–65% of diagnosed patients. Current approved therapies slow disease progression by clearing amyloid plaques from the brain but are largely contraindicated in the highest-risk group of APOE4 carriers due to serious side effects including brain swelling. CS6253 takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than clearing plaques after established memory loss, it targets the underlying biology of APOE4 carriers by restoring the brain's natural cholesterol transport system potentially retaining memory. "Phase 1 data in adults aged 50 and older demonstrated proof of mechanism. CS6253 mobilized amyloid-beta and induced functional HDL particles in humans, consistent with findings across multiple preclinical models. These convergent data give us a high degree of confidence as we advance into APOE4-carrier patients", said Jan Johansson, MD, PhD, CEO, Artery. ​ The Phase 2A trial will assess safety, CS6253 drug levels, and biological markers of disease activity, including markers measured in cerebrospinal fluid, in APOE4 carriers at an early, treatable stage of the disease. Positive results could position CS6253 as a first-in-class, disease-modifying therapy for one of the largest and most underserved patient populations in neurology. ​

The release as fetched from its publisher. arterytx.com ↗