AltPep develops early disease-modifying treatments and detection tools for amyloid diseases.

Our lead programs aim to identify Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease long before symptoms occur and then neutralize toxic soluble oligomers associated with these diseases.

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Our Platform

The AltPep platform, the foundation of our diagnostic and therapeutic programs, is based on a library of custom designed synthetic peptides.  This growing library is being used to target one of the earliest molecular triggers of amyloid diseases. 

SOBA™ Diagnostics

Highly sensitive, simple blood tests in development to aid in the early detection of amyloid diseases.

SOBIN™ Therapeutics

In development for use in concert with early detection to target and neutralize the toxic soluble oligomers associated with amyloid diseases.

Recent News and Events

A New Study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Demonstrates the Ability of a Novel Peptide to Selectively Detect and Neutralize an Early Molecular Trigger of Alzheimer’s and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

“AltPep Corporation, a privately held biotechnology company developing early disease-modifying treatments and detection tools for amyloid diseases, today announced that this week the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) will publish results of a groundbreaking study demonstrating a customized, synthetic peptide’s ability to selectively detect Alzheimer’s disease.”

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New blood test can detect ‘toxic’ protein years before Alzheimer’s symptoms emerge, study shows

Today, by and large, patients receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s only after they exhibit well-known signs of the disease, such as memory loss. By that point, the best treatment options simply slow further progression of symptoms.

But research has shown that the seeds of Alzheimer’s are planted years — even decades — earlier, long before the cognitive impairments surface that make a diagnosis possible. Those seeds are amyloid beta proteins that misfold and clump together, forming small aggregates called oligomers. Over time, through a process scientists are still trying to understand, those “toxic” oligomers of amyloid beta are thought to develop into Alzheimer’s.

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Review Article. The role of α-sheet structure in amyloidogenesis: characterization and implications

“Amyloid diseases are linked to protein misfolding whereby the amyloidogenic protein undergoes a conformational change, aggregates and eventually forms amyloid fibrils…”

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From Discovery to Design: Toward Early Detection and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

Lecture at UW on Oct 13, 2022 with Valerie Daggett, AltPep CEO. Learn about her groundbreaking work in Alzheimer’s and other amyloid…

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Promising data from large Alzheimer’s study bodes well for this Seattle startup

Alzheimer’s disease researchers were buoyed by positive data released Tuesday from a large clinical trial of an experimental therapy being developed by Biogen and Eisai.

The early data suggest that the treatment, called lecanemab, eases cognitive decline. The findings also rejuvenated hope in a therapeutic approach targeting peptides that form nasty clumps in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s.

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Seattle startup aiming to detect, treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease raises cash

The news: University of Washington spinout AltPep recently raised $44.4 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company declined to discuss the filing, but founder and CEO Valerie Daggett spoke with GeekWire about AltPep’s progress on its experimental blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease at the earliest stages.

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Review: Amyloid-β Oligomers: Multiple Moving Targets

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized clinically by progressive cognitive decline and pathologically by the β-sheet rich fibril plaque deposition of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide in the brain. While plaques are a hallmark of AD, plaque burden is not correlated with cognitive impairment. Instead, Aβ oligomers formed during the aggregation process represent the main agents of neurotoxicity, which occurs 10–20 years before patients begin to show symptoms…

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