INV-25 Liver X Receptor (LXR) Agonist

Early drug development efforts targeting amyloid-β as a treatment modality for AD have had limited success due to lack of efficacy in slowing disease progression and reported toxicities. Current therapeutic strategies have refocused on tau pathology, directed against tau proteins which are strongly implicated with symptom severity once cognitive decline ensues. The clumping and build up of Alzheimer’s-like tau deposits promote the intraneuronal accumulation of lipids including cholesterol in the brain leading to neuroinflammation. Now, Alzheimer’s researchers report that in a murine AD-model, treatment with a tool non-selective liver x receptor (LXR) agonist drug decreased lipid and cholesterol levels in the brain associated with less synapse loss, lower levels of tau protein and attenuated inflammation (3,4). These research findings highlight the potential of activating LXR with oral small molecule agonists as a tau-targeting therapy over amyloid approaches that may be able to prevent the onset of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. Innovimmune has developed INV-25 LXR-isoform selective agonists devoid of unwanted metabolic and hepatic safety liabilities that may have therapeutic utility in preventing and treating AD.