RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (RSPI)

[neuroinv]

There is probably a way to figure out the increased risk of surgery (the analgesia component still requires a chronic drug) in sleep apnea patients, who would be at an age and BMI where medical issues are more frequent. But I don't have the time to figure it out. This does point to a potential avenue for RD clinical development: Parse out a high risk population (e.g. sleep apnea patients undergoing general anesthesia with opioids, or even the Propofol light anesthesia used with some arthroscopies) so that you are not dealing with the very low base rate of RD in the general population undergoing such procedures. Somewhere buried in my notes was a set of incidence rates for RD in various populations: on the high end was home use of opioid pumps for severe pain, but I suspect major surgery in medically compromised patients would be up there. That might be how Cortex is positioning it for partnering.

Dew: The retinal detection of Alzheimer's. As you were pointing out, no one actually knows what pattern of retinally-detected degeneration is associated with Alzheimer's. Beyond that, that paper referred to it having been tested in animals, not yet in humans. Which means that they were basing it on transgenic rodents. And testing rodents which have had their brains crammed full of amyloid via a genetic tweak is already in doubt as a method for assessing anything in human AD, including drug effect. The idea that it is an accurate model for diagnosing AD in humans where the production of beta-amyloid is quite different, to me seems specious. At this point, they have a possible new method for identifying animals which are transgenically altered to grossly overexpress beta-amyloid. This is anything but established as a human diagnostic, and my guess is, it never will be.

NeuroInvestment