Abstract
The small South San Francisco firm Cortexyme has an interesting theory about Alzheimer’s disease. The firm was founded based on evidence that a bacterium called Porphyromonas gingivalis —best known for causing gingivitis—infects brain cells, eats them from the inside out, and leaves a wake of destruction and inflammation that contributes to brain cell death and memory loss. Now the company has its first results from a large clinical trial. It tested a drug candidate called atuzaginstat, which inhibits gingipains, protein-chomping enzymes made by P. gingivalis that have been found in the brains of people who died from Alzheimer’s disease. The Phase 2/3 trial looked at 643 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The drug did not significantly slow their cognitive or functional decline. Within a day of announcing the results, Cortexyme saw its stock fall by 75%. But the company isn’t giving up on the drug. About one-third of
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