EIP Pharma raised $20.5 million series B funding to support Neflamapimod, the phase 2b program of its Alzheimer treatment. The funding is also to build the team and to support other research studies related to central nervous system disorders.

Neflamapimod is an oral inhibitor of the enzyme p38 MAP kinase alpha, which indicates in neurons in times of stress and disease. Problems with p38 alpha activity can contribute to synaptic dysfunction, one of the culprits behind memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease, the company said in a statement.

EIP is working in one of the most difficult spaces in biotech; last 15 years Alzheimer’s has not seen any palpable in R&D. What's different about neflamapimod is that it doesn't drug a suspected root cause of the disease, instead, it targets the synaptic dysfunction that occurs in Alzheimer's regardless of its cause, stated CEO John Alam, M.D.

With neflamapimod, EIP is anticipating to reverse synaptic dysfunction. Three weeks of treatment reversed cognitive deficit in animals, while a pair of phase 2a trials that ran for six and 12 weeks led to improvement in episodic memory function, Alam said.

Phase 2b study will complete by end of the year and to read out by 2019. The study involves 150 patients, half of them will take neflamapimod tab daily, while the other half will receive placebo. The course will run for six months, with a primary endpoint of improving episodic memory as measured by the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test. Its secondary endpoints include broader measures of cognition and function, as well as markers of neurodegeneration in the spinal fluid, According to Alam. Once it's got the trial fully enrolled and underway, EIP will investigate other indications. Neflamapimod could be applied to other CNS disorders, including Huntington and Parkinson's diseases, as well as some forms of autism spectrum disorder and Rett syndrome, he added.