Muses Labs Brings Software Expertise to Alzheimer's Disease Therapeutics

Facilitates a Personalized Combination Therapy Targeting the Reversal of Memory Loss in Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–October 8, 2014–

Muses Labs (http://museslabs.com), which creates software-based systems to enable personalized therapy for the treatment of complex diseases, announces the development of its first offering for addressing Alzheimer’s disease. The combination therapy it implements is based on a broad understanding of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, and aims to achieve Metabolic Enhancement for NeuroDegeneration – MEND™ – by targeting multiple interrelated biological mechanisms simultaneously. Muses Labs will soon launch a two-year observational study to test its methodology, targeting 200+ participants with Alzheimer’s disease.

This approach to Alzheimer’s disease is based on the molecular biology of the brain – and the bodily systems that support it. Decades of scientific research from around the globe are brought together and incorporated into MEND™. Muses Labs combines medical expertise with software algorithms. Its algorithms “figure out” the optimal personalized therapy for an individual, and enables their physician to prescribe the therapy. Muses Labs’ software then motivates an individual’s adherence to the therapy it recommends.

Since its first description over 100 years ago, Alzheimer’s disease has been without an effective treatment. Repeated failure of monotherapies for Alzheimer’s disease has led researchers to pursue combination therapies. But, many interrelated biological mechanisms play into Alzheimer’s disease, and a corresponding combination therapy is at least an order of magnitude more complex than combination therapies currently applied to other disorders.

In a paper (http://www.impactaging.com/papers/v6/n9/full/100690.html) recently published in the journal Aging, “Reversal of Cognitive Decline – A Novel Therapeutic Program,” Dr. Dale E. Bredesen introduces a methodology for a combination therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Bredesen directs the Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at UCLA and is Chief Medical Officer of Muses Labs. The methodology was applied to a small number of subjects with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Although this was not a controlled study, the results were encouraging, with multiple test subjects experiencing subjective memory benefits. The potential of the MEND™ approach was demonstrated, with sustained reversal of memory loss and improved cognitive function. Therapies recommended by Muses Labs’ algorithms go significantly beyond what is described in the paper. Muses Labs’ software analysis targets additional key biological mechanisms and recommends precise corresponding interventions.

“Outcomes of other illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and HIV, have been improved through the use of combination therapies,” says Dr. Bredesen. Yet in the case of Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders, comprehensive combination therapies have not been explored. Over the past few decades, genetic and biochemical research has revealed an extensive network of molecular interactions involved in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis. “That suggested that a broader-based therapeutics approach, rather than a single drug that aims at a single target, is feasible and potentially more effective for the treatment of cognitive decline due to Alzheimer’s disease,” concludes Dr. Bredesen.

“The shift to applying a broad combination therapy to Alzheimer’s is a crucial turning point towards effectively treating Alzheimer’s disease,” says Dr. Marwan N. Sabbagh, Research Professor of Neurology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, and a key member of Muses Labs’ scientific team.

“The complexities of Alzheimer’s disease necessitate an approach that relies heavily on advanced software, big-data analytics, and scientific research,” says Muses Labs’ CEO Vik Chandra. “Muses Labs intends to utilize the Internet and recent technology innovations to make personalized combination therapy practical and accessible to every individual with Alzheimer’s disease around the world,” he concludes.

“Because of the explosive combinatorics, the solution to Alzheimer’s disease is a systems-optimization problem,” says the Chief Technology Officer of Muses Labs, Dr. John Q. Walker. “A new set of algorithms has been invented here to create personalized therapeutic recommendations. Muses Labs’ software infrastructure can receive individual’s clinical data from a range of sources – their medical team, caregivers, and Internet-connected devices – to assess the state of the disease, track progress, and evolve an ongoing set of therapeutic recommendations.”

Muses Labs will soon launch a two-year observational study of 200+ participants with Alzheimer’s disease, at selected medical facilities across the country. As the therapy does not rely upon new drugs, but rather an innovative combination of existing pharma and broader-based therapeutics, wider availability is only a couple of years away.

Those interested in more information can contact Muses Labs at www.museslabs.com.

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Muses Labs
Blaise J. Noto, 919-240-5466
PR@museslabs.com