FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPROVES NOVEL PATENT SUPPORTING THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE LICENSED TO NEW MEXICO-BASED BIOTECH COMPANY
Dr. Christopher Wheeler, Chief Science Officer of TNeuroPharma, is named on the patent, which provides a method for determining the likelihood of late onset Alzheimer’s Disease (LOAD).
NOVEMBER 02, 2022
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
KRISTINA TRUJILLO: [email protected]
Albuquerque, NM, October 27th, 2022 – T-Neuro Pharma, a New Mexico-based company that is developing a breakthrough Alzheimer’s diagnostic and therapeutic, has just reached a major milestone. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has approved the claims of a patent that is owned by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and licensed exclusively to the company entitled “Novel Blood Cell Biomarker for Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease (App. No. 15/754,997).” The claims of this patent include the use of T cells for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Targeting these T cells is a completely new way of diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s Disease,” says the company’s CEO, Dr. Kristina Trujillo. “Given the huge failure rate of previous targets like Beta-Amyloid, I believe a new approach is long overdue.”
Physicians and scientists agree that treatments, even lifestyle interventions, for Alzheimer’s Disease will be most effective in the earliest stages of the disease. But typically, Alzheimer’s Disease isn’t detected until long after significant damage to the brain has occurred. This is because diagnostics such as Amyloid PET and Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers are costly and invasive, and not practical for regular screening. This means that they are not used until after the patient starts showing symptoms, and damage has already been done to the brain.
TNeuroPharma is developing a diagnostic test called “T-Track”, that identifies Alzheimer’s patients early in the disease. The T-Track diagnostic is a simple blood test that could eventually replace costly and invasive diagnostic such as PET scans and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. Not only will the test provide a new diagnostic option for patients, it will also improve the clinical trials for Alzheimer’s drugs. The T-Track test will also allow doctors to monitor the efficacy of drugs in real-time. This can cut hundreds of millions of dollars from drug development costs, decades of time and potentially lead to pharmaceutical breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. By targeting dysfunctional T-cells, TNeuroPharma’s diagnostic technology can enable early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s – allowing for more effective clinical trials of confirmed AD patients.
This patent validates the progress of the technology licensed to TNeuroPharma and its application as a general method to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease by measuring immune cells in the blood. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai and the company have completed research identifying certain age-related immune cells as causing major recognized features of the disease. Determining levels of these cells in the blood forms the basis of the T-Track diagnostic test. The T-Track diagnostic identified Alzheimer’s disease and related pre-conditions in patients with high accuracy and can be performed using standard clinical laboratory equipment. As such, it is projected to be orders of magnitude cheaper than currently available tests that require highly specialized equipment and analysis. The development of T-Track will thus enable earlier, accurate, and more
widely available diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. T-Track is also the only Alzheimer’s biomarker based on a causal factor. T-Track is currently optimized for Alzheimer’s diagnosis in a majority of patients, with plans in place to further broaden its reach through a partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“Translating immune-based technologies to benefit individuals with brain and other serious disorders has long been a professional passion of mine” said Dr. Christopher Wheeler. “Overall, our novel technology not only provides the opportunity to detect the disease earlier by monitoring levels of the immune cells that can cause it, but with development, it could also provide the means to treat Alzheimer’s by inhibiting or eliminating these same problematic immune cells.”
The goal at TNeuroPharma is to provide better diagnostic and treatment options for Alzheimer’s patients. Whether sought by pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials, primary care physicians, or patient and caregivers themselves, T-Track offers earlier, more accessible diagnosis in a single blood test amenable to screening large populations, as well as providing critical information to patients individually.
TNeuroPharma was established in 2018 with the goal to revolutionize the approach to detecting and treating Alzheimer’s Disease in living patients. The technology was licensed from Cedars-Sinai, where Dr. Wheeler was on faculty before co-founding T-NeuroPharma together with Dr. Kristina Trujillo and John Chavez. TNeuroPharma is a portfolio company under the New Mexico Start-Up Factory, an organization that is focused on supporting entrepreneurs in the journey of taking innovative technologies from idea to industry.
“This issued patent not only validates the science behind the technology, but it also supports the company’s quest to secure industry partners for product development,” said John Chavez, Managing Partner of the New Mexico Start-Up Factory. “We hope to help millions of people through the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and revolutionize the current methods of treatment.”
For more information about TNeuroPharma, visit www.tneuropharma.com. For more information about LEEP, visit www.nmleep.com. For more information on the New Mexico Start-Up Factory, please visit www.nmsuf.com.
About TNeuroPharma
T-Neuro is an Alzheimer’s biomarker and therapeutic company focusing on early detection by aiming attention on the T cell contribution to the pathology of the disease. The important T cell response can be detected in blood as an early diagnostic tool and blocked as a therapeutic avenue. Effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders are within reach through TNeuroPharma’s technology and
patented biomarker method. Those seeking diagnostic information, from pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials, to memory clinics, primary care physicians, and individual caregivers can more easily identify patients with confirmed Alzheimer’s disease to guide their next steps. –In each scenario, this can save considerable time, expense, and individual turmoil. Most importantly, the technology offers new hope for the detection and eventual treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
About the New Mexico Start-Up Factory
The New Mexico Start-Up Factory (NMSUF) is a local organization that focuses on developing laboratory technologies from the idea stage to market readiness. In the company’s innovative model, specialists work with scientists looking to commercialize their innovations while building infrastructure and securing early-stage funding. Through the NMSUF program, technologists are coached through the validation of the technology and market and are then paired with the right management team. A commercialization and business plan/model are created and if all signs point to a good market opportunity and promising development, a company is formed. Companies and scientists that successfully complete the educational piece of the program are open to investment from the NMSUF Fund. The New Mexico Start-Up Factory has launched 14 companies over the last 6 years of which 7 are still in development. (www.nmsuf.com)