The University of South Florida and The Healthy Aging Company: a highly successful partnership to develop a novel treatment for cognitive disorders and Alzheimer ‘s diseases
Though a relatively young university, founded in 1956, the University of South Florida (USF) has rich traditions – traditions of access and opportunity for students, of academic excellence, of groundbreaking research, and of serving our communities.
USF is situated in the vibrant and diverse Tampa Bay region, with campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee. Together, the campuses serve nearly 50,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist and professional degrees. Across the 14 colleges, undergraduates choose from more than 200 majors, minors and concentrations, from business and engineering to the arts and USF Health.
U.S. News & World Report has ranked USF as one of the nation’s top 50 public universities for five consecutive years, and in 2023 USF earned its highest ranking ever among all universities public or private.
In 2023, USF became the first public university in Florida in nearly 40 years to be invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), a prestigious group of the leading universities in the United States and Canada.
High-impact global research is central to USF’s mission as one of only three Preeminent Research Universities, as designated by the Florida Board of Governors. The Preeminence program rewards high-achieving universities based on multiple metrics, including graduation rates, student retention rates, research expenditures and the number of patents awarded.
As Tampa Bay’s only academic medical center, USF Health is in partnership with the Morsani College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Public Health, Taneja College of Pharmacy, School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, Biomedical Sciences Graduate & Postdoctoral Programs, and USF Health’s multispecialty physicians group. Tampa General Hospital achieved national recognition in six adult medical specialties, many led or co-led by USF Health faculty physicians, demonstrating a strong partnership in delivering top-quality care. Together through talent and innovation, USF Health is integrating education, research, and patient care to our shared value: Making Life Better.
With 88 new U.S. utility patents granted in 2023, USF is 14th among American public research universities and 34th among all universities worldwide in generating new patents. The ranking places USF as a leader among the more than 1,000 academic institutions generating new, novel and useful inventions granted intellectual property protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
USF’s innovation and economic development efforts produce tangible benefits across Florida. The university has a total annual economic impact of $6.02 billion and supports 68,704 jobs in the state. Many of the jobs supported by USF are in high-skill, high-wage, knowledge-based industries, such as life sciences, information technology and financial services.
The Healthy Aging Company partnership
In this context, USF and The Healthy Aging Company have entered in a partnership which has led a novel potential drug candidate for Diabetic neuropathy and Alzheimer’s disease.
Indeed, The Healthy Aging Company (THAC) has obtained, in collaboration with the University of South Florida, very convincing preclinical data on the capacity of its lead drug candidate, ALF5755, to improve cognitive functions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is now raising money to initiate the first clinical trials.
The company is located in both the United States (University of South Florida, registered in Delaware) and in Paris (Paris University), and is anchored on a strong scientific background, with significant achievements and assets.
THAC is a privately-owned small, yet highly innovative, biopharmaceutical company which aims to become a game changer in patient care and healthy aging by targeting age-related diseases and in particular Type 2 Diabetes and associated complications, namely: Diabetic neuropathy, a major unmet medical need and Alzheimer’s disease.
The mission of THAC has been to develop a game changer biotherapy for insulin resistance, the root cause of T2DM but also of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Beyond resistance to insulin, THAS has demonstrated that its lead candidate drug, ALF5755, is acting as a tissue repair and an anti-inflammatory compound; preclinical data have now demonstrated its potential for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and diabetic neuropathy, major unmet needs despite the progress of new antidiabetic therapies.
The safety and biological efficacy in humans have been previously established in the context of phases 1 and 2 clinical studies in patients with acute liver failure.
