TREVENTIS Corporation Closes $4.4 Million Financing with Wellcome Trust

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TREVENTIS Corporation announced today that it received a $4.4 million Seeding Drug Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust to continue development of a potentially disease-modifying drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). 

Recent studies demonstrate that the misfolding and subsequent aggregation of both beta-amyloid and tau are primary events in the Alzheimer's disease process.  Using a novel, proprietary drug design platform, TREVENTIS synthesized a class of organic drug-like molecules with the unique capability of binding to both beta-amyloid and tau, preventing aggregation of both proteins using a single drug. 

This financing supports the continued progression of TREVENTIS' compounds with the initial objective of delivering an AD drug candidate into first-in-man clinical testing.  The ultimate goal is to provide a drug that effectively and safely prevents the progression of AD.

"This financing signals a transformational event for TREVENTIS.  It provides the resources necessary to progress our critically important drug development and validates the scientific approach we have taken" said William McIntosh, Chairman and CEO, TREVENTIS. 

The principal investigator, board-certified neurologist and renowned medicinal chemist, Donald F. Weaver, MD, PhD, said: "I am deeply honored to receive this funding from the Wellcome Trust.  It enables us to advance important research that will profoundly and positively impact our efforts to treat people with chronic neurological dementias such as Alzheimer's."

About TREVENTIS Corporation 
TREVENTIS is headquartered in Southeastern Pennsylvania and has research operations in Toronto, Ontario, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  The company is focused on the discovery and early stage development of disease-modifying small molecule drugs for Alzheimer's and other protein misfolding diseases.  In addition to its therapeutic programs, TREVENTIS has a novel approach to the development of diagnostics for early diagnosis and monitoring of treatment effects in Alzheimer's disease.  www.TREVENTIS.com

About Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health.  It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities.  The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health.  It is independent of both political and commercial interests.  www.wellcome.ac.uk 

SOURCE TREVENTIS Corporation