A Randomized Controlled Study to Evaluate the Effect of Bexarotene, an RXR Agonist, on Amyloid Beta

This partnership study with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation supports a clinical trial of the already FDA approved drug, bexarotene, as a possible therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease.

Bexarotene has been commercially available in the US for more than a decade as an orally administered treatment for T-cell lymphoma.

In prior studies, the project’s academic collaborators at Case Western Reserve University, demonstrated that bexarotene might also be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. This group showed that bexarotene increased brain apoE protein levels and cleared amyloid from the brain (a key target for Alzheimer’s disease) of mice genetically engineered to exhibit some of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease, which resulted in improved memory and cognition.

The Phase I trial will evaluate a small number of healthy human subjects. This study will be conducted by C2N Diagnostics and Compass Research, Inc. and will employ proprietary technology allowing the measurement of apoE and amyloid beta related biomarkers in the spinal fluid of individuals following treatment with bexarotene.