Hiya folks, Lev here.

What AI providers are you using and why? Tell us here — I’m curious if ChatGPT will rate as low in our poll as it seems anecdotally from talking with folks.

Now to this week’s feature story: The $6.5 million seed raised by Goldenrod Therapeutics, a Houston-based startup working with an innovative drug created at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and licensed from UNeMed, the UNMC tech transfer office.

Not to bum everyone out, but if you’ve had a family member suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s, you’ll know how hard it is to watch the people you love deteriorate because of what are, at the moment, incurable brain-related diseases.

By the end, my grandfather didn’t remember who I was. That’s not an easy thing to live with. Neither is knowing that, if I live long enough, dementia is likely waiting for me, too. 

But there’s also a good chance that, by the time we all get there, there will be effective treatments that could mean none of our loved ones have to suffer that fate.

That’s the promise held by 11h, a drug developed by Dr. Corey Hopkins, the director of the UNMC Center for Drug Design and Innovation. The drug is one of many that block a key protein involved across diseases like Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, as well as conditions like cocaine addiction.

Most drugs of this kind, though, also cause nausea and vomiting — making for a poor treatment. But 11h seems, at least from preliminary studies, not to have that side effect. It could be a holy grail medicine and, if all bears out, one day as ubiquitous as Tylenol is today.

Goldenrod Therapeutics (yes — named after Nebraska’s state flower) knows just how important their work is. The seed raise will help fund initial applications to the FDA and the first round of safety testing in human phase 1 clinical trials.

There’s a long road ahead. Drug development takes years and is rarely successful. But these are the risks taken by university tech transfer offices, researchers and startups all the time to help life-changing innovations reach the public.

Learn more by reading the full story on SPN.