AltPep Corporation has presented new preclinical findings at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2025 in Toronto, spotlighting its investigational therapeutic SOBIN-AD as a promising early treatment option for Alzheimer’s disease.

SOBIN-AD is a custom-designed peptide developed to selectively bind and neutralise toxic soluble Aβ oligomers — molecular triggers of Alzheimer’s disease. In a mouse model, the treatment was shown to improve short-term memory and reduce plaque burden following sustained intranasal dosing.

“We are thrilled to showcase these exciting preclinical results for our SOBIN-AD therapeutic,” said Valerie Daggett, chief executive officer and founder of AltPep. “Our compound is based on the discovery that toxic oligomers, early triggers for amyloid diseases such as AD, form a nonstandard protein structure called α-sheet. We have now demonstrated that SOBIN-AD not only selectively targets the α-sheet toxic oligomers but also enhances clearance of these toxic oligomers.”

Carolyn Tallon, principal scientist at AltPep, who presented the findings at AAIC, added: “Importantly, we showed that SOBIN-AD treatment improved short-term memory and reduced plaque burden in Tg AD mice, after 6 and 12 months of dosing, respectively.”

Preclinical data show that SOBIN-AD binds Aβ oligomers 27,000 times more strongly than it binds protofibrils, enhances microglial phagocytosis of toxic oligomers in a dose-dependent fashion, and significantly reduces amyloid plaque burden following long-term intranasal treatment.

“These results compellingly support the promise of SOBIN-AD as a transformative early treatment option for patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Gil Block, chief medical officer at AltPep. “This achievement is especially important as we advance our program towards the clinic.”

AltPep’s platform is based on decades of research by the Daggett Research Group at the University of Washington. The company is also developing early detection diagnostics using similar α-sheet peptide chemistry, under the SOBA diagnostics brand. Other programs in the pipeline include approaches targeting Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes.