Telocyte is a company founded by Michael Fossel, MD, Ph.D., and Peter Rayson and is focused on curing Alzheimer’s disease using telomerase gene therapy.
This gene therapy seeks to restore critically short telomeres in target cells in order to restore a more youthful level of function, encourage tissue regeneration, and thus potentially reverse Alzheimer’s pathology. Telomere loss is thought to be one of the major reasons we age and we discuss this in detail here.
Telocyte and the CNIO (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas) in Spain have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration to take Telomerase Therapy to FDA human trials. Under the supervision of Dr. Maria Blasco, the CNIO has recently made advances in both animal research and delivery systems and is collaborating with Telocyte to bring telomerase therapy closer to the clinic.
The Telocyte company has met its funding goals to cover the costs of animal and human trials, According to Dr. Fossel on 3 January 2023 [3] they will be moving into large animal models later this year and human studies are likely at least two years off.
Telocyte founder Michael Fossel in his Q4 2022 Newsletter announced several changes to the companies management team and the submission of a new paper for publication outlining the potential for treating not only age-related dementias, but also age-related cardiovascular diseases.
References
[1] Jaskelioff, M., Muller, F. L., Paik, J. H., Thomas, E., Jiang, S., Adams, A. C., … & Horner, J. W. (2011). Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice. Nature, 469(7328), 102.
[2] de Jesus, B. B., Vera, E., Schneeberger, K., Tejera, A. M., Ayuso, E., Bosch, F., & Blasco, M. A. (2012). Telomerase gene therapy in adult and old mice delays aging and increases longevity without increasing cancer. EMBO molecular medicine, 4(8), 691-704.
[3] Fossel, Michael, Interview. Conducted by Chris Rose, 3 January 2023.