INMB - 5 Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Stocks on the NASDAQ

As the US Department of Health and Human Services notes, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a degenerative brain disorder that results in cognitive decline and basic thinking skills which slowly gets worse over time.

According to a 2019 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures report, the worse the disease gets, neurons in other areas of the brain also begin to deteriorate, resulting in the loss of basic human functions and overall cognitive impairment.

The condition is also the most common form of dementia, affecting more than five million people in the US alone and is the sixth leading cause of deaths in the country. That being said, there is treatment of Alzheimer’s available to alleviate symptoms; but without affecting the underlying causes of the disease, they’re only a bandaid effect. Ultimately, death is often the result for Alzheimer’s patients who have been diagnosed as there is no Alzheimer’s cure.

Not only is AD diminishing the lives of people affected and putting a strain on their caretakers, Alzheimer’s is rising in prevalence. A report from Reports and Data suggests the market will be worth US$12.43 billion by 2026 thanks to the rising need for drugs in development and investments made in biomarkers for further development.

Despite there being no cure for Alzheimer’s, in terms of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies, there are currently six approved drugs to treat the condition, including: Rivastigmine by Novartis (NYSE:NVS); Galantimine, developed by Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ); Donepezil, by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE); and Galantamine by Shire (NASDAQ:SHPG) and Takeda (TYO:4502).

With that in mind, here the Investing News Network (INN) takes a look at smaller market-cap companies involved in the market, which is promising for its future growth. The companies listed below were chosen from GlobalData’s  Alzheimer’s Disease – Global Drug Forecast and Market Analysis and have market caps below US$600 million with one exception. All numbers and figures are current as of September 12, 2019.

Here’s a closer look at those companies.

1. AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU)

Market cap: US$354.70 million

AC Immune’s overall focus is on developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. The company has two proprietary technology platforms: SupraAntigen and Morphomer. Within these platforms are eight Alzheimer disease treatments in different stages of clinical trials.

The company’s lead drug candidate is crenezumab, an anti-Abeta antibody that is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial for Alzheimer’s.

2. Adamas Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ADMS)

Market cap: US$173.29 million

Adamas Pharmaceuticals is also focused on neurological conditions for patients with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

The company’s Alzheimer’s dementia treatment, Namzaric, developed in connection with Allergan (NYSE:AGN) was approved by the FDA in 2014. It is a treatment taken once daily to treat moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s and helps improve symptoms such as cognition, function and temporarily relieving symptoms.

3. INmune Bio (NASDAQ:INMB)

Market cap: US$66.62 million

INmune Bio is a relatively new company having launched on the NASDAQ in early 2019.

The company is focused on developing therapies for both cancer and Alzheimer’s. Its drug candidate,  XPro1595, hones in on neuroinflammation as an Alzheimer’s disease cause.

The drug candidate is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1b clinical trial of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s with higher than normal levels of inflammation in the blood stream. The study is anticipated to be finished towards the end of 2020.

4. Intra-Cellular Therapies (NASDAQ:ITCI)

Market cap: US$577.11 million

Intra-Cellular Therapies is focused on developing treatments for the central nervous system and conditions that are neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative.

The company is working to advance its lead drug candidate, lumateperone (ITI-007) to treat a range of conditions  such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, behavioral disturbances in patients with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease and depression. The drug candidate is currently being reviewed by the FDA for schizophrenia and is in a Phase 3 clinical trial for bipolar depression.

5. vTv Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VTVT)

Market cap: US$88.55 million

Closing out our Alzheimer’s disease treatment stocks list is vTv Therapeutics.

Like others on the list, vTv also a broader focus than just AD and is developing treatments for with diabetes and inflammatory diseases.

Case in point, its treatment azeliragon began a Phase 2 clinical trial in June 2019 in patients with Type 2 diabetes and mild Alzheimer’s. Topline data results from this trial are anticipated sometime in Q4 2020.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.