Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse Relocates Therapeutics Company to Pittsburgh Cognition Therapeutics, Inc.
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), the organization providing capital investments and customized company formation and business growth services to the region's life sciences enterprises, announced that the PLSG has helped Cognition Therapeutics, Inc. (Cognition) make the decision to relocate to southwestern Pennsylvania and has invested $200,000 in the Company. In addition, the PLSG has assisted Cognition in establishing regional operations and has provided connections to additional capital and equipment sources. The Cognition team is occupying office space in the PLSG Incubator and laboratory space on the South Side.
Cognition is an early-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics targeting the toxic proteins that cause the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases of the human brain.
The societal costs of neurodegenerative diseases are enormous; Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cognitive dementia, affecting one of every ten people over age 65 and nearly 35% over age 85. This translates into more than 4.5 million AD patients in the U.S. alone, a number expected to reach 9 million by 2030 and 16 million by 2050 as the U.S. population ages. Currently, there are no treatments to address AD or its progression; available drugs treat only the symptoms without modifying the disease.
Cognition will leverage its proprietary and synergistic phenotypic assay and chemistry technology to create novel small molecule libraries, and then rapidly screen these libraries in models of the memory loss that characterize the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease. PLSG's investment will support the deployment of the phenotypic assay technology platform. "Our approach is to target the toxic proteins that build up in the brains of elderly individuals and results in memory loss that eventually progresses to degeneration of brain cells. Evidence suggests that blocking this protein and its toxic actions early on in the course of the disease will prevent or reverse memory loss," said Dr. Susan Catalano, Chief Science Officer and inventor of the phenotypic assay platform technology.
"We are thrilled to welcome Cognition to southwestern Pennsylvania and to our investment portfolio," said John W. Manzetti, PLSG President & CEO. "Cognition is the 10th company that the PLSG has helped relocate to the region. In addition to our efforts to grow companies from regional sources, it is essential that we also import companies and technologies to the region that will increase the commercialization of innovative healthcare solutions which can have global impact and multiple market applications." Mr. Manzetti continued, "Cognition's development of novel therapies for neurodegenerative diseases has the potential to address the global epidemic of Alzheimer's disease. Even small delays in Alzheimer's onset and progression can significantly reduce the disease's devastation." Mr. Manzetti added, "we look forward to helping build Cognition into a successful regional life sciences company."
"Pittsburgh is a perfect location for Cognition," said Tony Giordano, CEO of Cognition. "The region's strong life sciences research infrastructure, clinical prowess and the PLSG's community of life sciences entrepreneurs will help us gain access to the resources necessary to expedite the development of our technology platforms."
"We are very excited to be establishing our drug discovery operations here. Pittsburgh's neuroscience research community is recognized for its leadership within the field, and this will allow us to staff our company with world-class neurobiologists," said Dr. Franz Hefti, Chairman of Cognition's Board of Directors.
About the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG)
The PLSG invests in and supports the growth of biosciences companies in southwestern Pennsylvania. The PLSG has investment and business growth programs to increase the linkage between research, technology and commercialization; nurture and develop entrepreneurial biosciences enterprises; grow the region's talent pool in the life sciences; and help biosciences firms locate, expand or start-up in the Greater Pittsburgh region. www.plsg.com
About Cognition Therapeutics, Inc. (Cognition)
Cognition Therapeutics, Inc. is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics targeting the toxic proteins that cause the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases of the human brain. Toxic proteins play a crucial role in a large class of disease targets, and there are currently no therapeutics available to prevent toxic protein accumulation or block their destructive effects. Cognition is founded on the unique combination of biological expertise around these targets, including proprietary assays that emphasize functional responses and proprietary medicinal chemistry that insures novel, high quality small molecule drug candidates. www.cogrx.com
CONTACT: Lynn Banaszak Brusco of Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse,
+1-412-770-1353
Web site: http://www.cogrx.com/
http://www.plsg.com/