Dive Brief:
- Washington, D.C.-based Chase Pharmaceuticals plans to raise $70 million over the first half of 2016, after closing $3.5 million in funding last fall, according to the Washington Business Journal. . It expects venture capital partners to chip in $12 million to $15 million next month.
- Chase is in phase 2 development of a drug intended to treat patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD).
- Chase expects to move into phase 3 this year with its lead candidate for AD—CPC-201—by the end of this year.
Dive Insight:
An estimated five million Americans have AD, and that number is rapidly growing. By 2050, if things continue unabated, the CDC projects about 13.8 million may have AD, at a cost of up to $500 billion annually. Despite years of failures and billions of dollars spent, researchers continue to look for a treatment that actually addresses the underlying pathology of AD, versus simply treating the symptoms.
Chase is well aware of the challenges of developing in this space. Since December 2015, Douglas Ingram—formerly President of Allergan—has been at the helm of Chase as CEO. Under his leadership, Chase is pursuing an AD indication for its CPC-201 compound in combination with the existing AD drug donepezil.