Alte Biosciences has licensed rights to technology from Duke University Medical School that could lead to treatments for late-onset depression and other disorders.
Alte is a drug development company that is part of Cary-based PharmaDirections. PharmaDirections provides pharmaceutical and biotech drug development consulting services.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Duke technology, which is patented, is based on research by Randa Krishnan, a doctor at Duke. He has explored the development of cerebrovascular disease, which affects arteries in the brain, and the onset of depression among the elderly. The disease is called vascular depression.
Krishnan is chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke and specializes in depression and anxiety disorders.
A lead drug candidate, ARX-111, is under development and could be ready for a clinical proof-of-concept study within a year, the company said. It is the first drug candidate developed by Alte.
Late onset depression affects some 6 million people in the United States, according to Alte.
