The under-the-radar Alzheimer’s company worth $800 million

Cortexyme spent the first five years of its life in stealth. Then, in 2019, the company’s scientific founders published a head-turning paper on the potential cause of Alzheimer’s disease and promptly raised $71 million in an IPO.

Now, as CEO Casey Lynch explained to STAT’s Sharon Begley, Cortexyme is spending its money on a clinical trial that will put its hypothesis to the test.

The company is founded on the idea that P. gingivalis, a bacteria tied to tooth decay, plays a role in the development of Alzheimer’s. Cortexyme’s drug, COR388, is meant to block the bacteria’s effects on neurons, and the company is enrolling 570 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s to see if the therapy can change the course of the disease.

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