Area firm wins $2M investment to pursue Alzheimer's drug

TAMPA —Alzamend Neuro has landed new investment money on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval to move forward with the testing of a drug to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tampa biopharmaceutical company raised $2 million by selling 1.3 million shares of stock for $1.50 a share to Digital Power Lending LLC. Alzamend also issued warrants allowing DPL to purchase nearly 670,000 shares at $3 per share.

The stock sale comes after the company won FDA approval July 28 to begin a Phase 1 clinical study of AL001, a milestone listed in a March 12 securities purchase agreement.

AL001 is a treatment for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The company says AL001 is a lithium-based ionic cocrystal oral therapy for patients with dementia related to mild, moderate and severe cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The first-in-human study is to determine “potential clinically safe and appropriate AL001 dosing in future studies.”  

The company has said AL001 may also wind up treating illnesses other than Alzheimer’s and dementia, including PTSD, bipolar disorder and depression.

In the SEC filing, the company says the investment provides “Alzamend a committed source of capital, driven by milestones, to fund Alzamend’s therapeutic treatments through the end of Phase 1 clinical trials.”

Another $4 million investment, this one for the purchase 2.6 million shares, as well as warrants for another 1.3 million shares, will come when the Phase 1 clinical study is complete.

Once the initial study is done, Alzamend say that it will start a Phase 1/2a clinical trial aimed at gauging the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary efficacy of the drug in patients with Alzheimer’s.

Subsequent studies before final approval will look at dosing as well as the effectiveness and safety of the drug. The company say AL001 treatment has shown in preclinical studies to prevents cognitive deficits, depression and irritability in mice.

The company went public in June and is now listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbol ALZN. At the time, it announced June that it had raised $14.4 million from the IPO.

“With the closing of our IPO in June 2021 and the additional funding related to this significant milestone,” CEO Stephan Jackman says in the filing, “we believe we are well-positioned to make significant progress towards moving AL001 down the path of our upcoming human clinical trials without the need to raise new capital.”