CoMentis, a California/Oklahoma City-based pharmaceutical company, is developing a beta-secretase inhibitor, CTS-21166, discovered by Dr. Tang and Dr. Arun Ghosh of Purdue University. Unlike the existing Alzheimer’s drugs that treat only the symptoms, CTS-21166 inhibits, or turns off, the mechanism believed to lead to disease progression. The Phase I clinical trial results showed CTS-21166 to be safe and well tolerated in humans at various dose levels. Following the administration of a single dose, CTS-21166 reduced the levels of plasma beta amyloid, a potential cause of progression of the disease, by as much as 60 percent.

“CTS-21166 represents an entirely new approach to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease by inhibiting beta-secretase, an enzyme critical in the production of potentially toxic amyloid beta,” said Henry Hsu, M.D., CoMentis Chief Medical Officer. “It has the potential to become the first-in-class disease-modifying therapeutic agent.”