Our Approach
Targeting Synaptic Dysfunction to Treat Neurodegenerative Disease
CervoMed is pursuing a new mechanism that is based on our understanding of how stress to the neuron, including inflammation, amyloid plaques or alpha synuclein deposits (i.e., Lewy bodies), drives the neurodegenerative process.
Scientific evidence has shown that the enzyme p38 alpha is a driver of neurological disease progression. Chronic activation of p38 alpha in the brain interferes with how neurons signal to one another – this is called synaptic dysfunction. Synaptic dysfunction leads to memory loss, executive function defects and other cognitive deficits, as well can lead to deficits in motor function, and if left untreated will result in neuron death over time.
We are developing an oral therapy, neflamapimod, that inhibits the enzyme p38 alpha. We believe that if neflamapimod is given in the early stages of neurological disease, it may reverse synaptic dysfunction, improve neuron health, and slow or prevent disease progression. CervoMed is investigating neflamapimod in a Phase 2b clinical study in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).
CervoMed
Medicines for the Brain
Scientific data for neflamapimod has been published in certain medical journals and presented to the medical and scientific community at various medical meetings. Click below to access the data presentations.
Presentations and Publications“The data from the trial of neflamapimod in DLB are very encouraging, setting the stage for more extensive testing. There are no approved treatments for DLB, the second most common cause of neurodegenerative dementia, and there is an urgent need to find therapies for this severe and progressive disorder.”
Jeffrey L. Cummings, MD, ScD, Joy Chambers-Grundy Professor of Brain Science and Director of the Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Science, UNLV School of Integrated Health Sciences
“The demonstrated positive effects seen from the AscenD-LB study which measured cognition as a primary endpoint as well as a number of other secondary endpoints, establishes-proof of-concept for neflamapimod as a possible treatment for patients with dementia with Lewy bodies. If these findings are confirmed in phase 3 clinical studies neflamapimod could potentially become the first approved therapy for this devastation disease. DLB is not only the second most common neurodivergent dementia but is also associated with substantial reduction of patient quality of life and a high caregiver burden.”
Stephen Gomperts, MD, PhD, Director of the Lewy Body Dementia Unit and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an investigator in the AscendD-LB study
“It’s exciting to see efficacy of potential new drugs for Lewy Body Dementia. It is a huge area of unmet need.”
