NIH awards $3.35M to Oligomerix for development of tau-targeting AD therapy

The NIH has awarded $3.35 million to Oligomerix Inc. for clinical development of its lead program, OLX-07010, an oral tau self-association small molecule inhibitor for the treatment of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

According to a company release, Oligomerix plans to launch a phase 1a clinical trial in 2022 in healthy volunteers.

“Key requirements for treating early-stage AD include safe, efficacious and cost-effective therapeutic interventions,” James Moe, PhD, MBA, CEO and head of discovery at Oligomerix, said in the release. “Based on our preliminary results, this oral small molecule, CNS drug-like lead significantly fulfills these requirements.”

More than 6.5 million Americans have AD, a figure that is expected to rise to as high as 12.7 million by 2050, according to the release. Furthermore, the current cost for AD is $321 billion and projected to be $1 trillion by 2050.

If proven successful, OLX-07010 would potentially fill a significant unmet need with a disease-modifying drug that could have a significant effect on patient outcomes, as well as reduce the burden on caregivers and society, the release stated.

Oligomerix recently announced a Series B extension raise of $2.7 million to support additional preclinical and clinical development for the tau self-association inhibitor portfolio.

“These studies will enable the determination of dosing for subsequent proof-of-concept studies in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases for our lead program, and we are extremely excited to be supported by the NIH with this funding in order to potentially bring a transformative therapy to patients in need,” William Erhardt, MD, president and head of development at Oligomerix and principal investigator for the grant, said in the release.