An invention to treat Alzheimer’s Disease, patented by a Connecticut entrepreneur, could now be in human clinical trials before the end of this year. The development comes just months after the launch of the technology.
Back in May, serial entrepreneur and inventor Eric Knight unveiled a device that he hopes will stem the neural degeneration caused by Alzheimer’s Disease and help sufferers preserve brain function. He’s not a medical man, but he does have expertise in radio frequency technology.
The device, which is designed to be worn on the patient’s head for an hour or so each day, directs radio waves at the brain, an idea based on research carried out in mice, which appeared to be highly effective in slowing the progress of the disease.
Knight said the original research in mice was carried out by Dr. Gary Arendash, “who is by all measures the leading scientist in the world in the research of RF technologies in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease." Arendash is the senior editor of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Now Arendash is the person who’s licensing Knight’s device for use in a human clinical trial that will hopefully get off the ground in Arizona this winter.
“So the validation of a company like that, headed by such an esteemed individual, to license my technology, was just an incredible validation of the technology that I developed,” Knight told WNPR.
Knight and Arendash only met after the Connecticut inventor had patented his device, but the two hit it off immediately, arranging the licensing deal in only a few weeks.
“In medical science, things don’t normally happen that fast. So really to be able to create this license with this company, and to be able to hopefully be testing this on humans sometime this winter is really warp speed,” Knight said.
This may not be the only license Knight receives for his device. He says he currently has five other inquiries, and he’ll follow up on all of them. He hopes to be able to fast track work on his idea, with the aim of making an impact on a disease that affects as many as 5 million Americans.
