Connecticut’s technology investment arm is betting $750,000 that a Yale bioscience startup will make treatment inroads with victims of Alzheimer’s and other traumatic brain and spinal-cord dysfunctions.
Connecticut Innovations Inc. said it put money into Axerion Therapeutics Inc. in New Haven in return for an unspecified equity stake in Axerion and a seat on its board.
Axerion was founded by managing partner Scheer & Co., Yale faculty member Dr. Stephen Strittmatter, Sylvia McBrinn and Yale.
McBrinn, president and CEO, said Axerion’s goal is to improve the lives of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and stroke that collectively cost the U.S. $228 billion annually in societal costs.
Among its treatments, the company is developing small-molecule oral compounds to block the binding of amyloid beta oligomers in the brain, which cause its dysfunction. Axerion’s technology, is aimed at slowing or halting cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.
