Alkahest, a US-based biopharmaceutical company working on restoring mental capability in older patients by using blood plasma from younger donors, received $37.5m in funding from pharmaceutical firm Grifols yesterday.
Grifols has obtained a 45% stake with the investment, which was made alongside a further $12.5m to fund Alkahest’s development of plasma-based products to treat cognitive decline.
Plasma makes up just over half the volume of blood and is the fluid in which blood cells float. It contains, among other things, proteins, antibodies and electrolytes.
Alkahest’s technology is based on research by Tony Wyss-Coray (pictured) and a team of scientists at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, and the company was spun out of the university last year. The team showed it could treat cognitive decline in older mice by injecting certain parts of plasma from younger mice.
Alkahest is now working on translating its findings to human models, which would be commercialised by Grifols. If successful, the treatments could be used for disorders of the central nervous systems such as Parkinson’s and diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
As part of the commercialisation deal, Alkahest is entitled to milestone payments and royalties from Grifols. The two companies will work together through a newly formed scientific joint steering committee.
– Image courtesy of Norbert von der Groeben / Stanford University School of Medicine