South San Francisco-headquartered Athenagen is engaged in the discovery and development of small-molecule drugs to treat neurovascular disease indications, such as Alzheimer’s disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cognitive disorders.
The privately-held company has two fundamental technology platforms: beta-secretase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease; and nACh receptor agonists and antagonists for the treatment of angiogenesis-mediated diseases and cognitive disorders.
Athenagen currently has four product development programs based on these two technologies, namely ATG003, a topical anti-angiogenesis compound for neovascular AMD; GTS-21, an oral agonist of the alpha-7 nACh receptor pathway for cognition enhancement; ATG002, a topical pro-angiogenesis compound for diabetic foot ulcers; and two clinical candidates from the beta-secretase inhibitor program that will be studied in Alzheimer’s disease.
Terms of the merger were not disclosed.