Developing Antibiotics for Alzheimer's & Parkinson's Disease w/Joe Harding - Inside Industry with IREO
Inside Industry with IREO is joined by Joe Harding, a professor of physiology and neuroscience at WSU and co-founder of Athira Pharma. His primary work focuses on treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. These small molecules’ main targets are HGF/MET, which are growth factors that can help stimulate new connections, produce new neurons, and protect nerve cells from damage. Harding states “there isn’t a single disease that couldn’t be improved with a drug that either activates one or more growth factors or drug that inhibits one or more growth factors.” Currently, Athira Pharma has been running a clinical trial with Alzheimer’s patients and may be in their final testing stages of the small molecule therapeutics. Athira’s goal is to improve the lifestyle of Alzheimer’s patients and potentially to keep them out of assisted living longer. This could be the first regenerative drug to hit the market.