Local drug firm gains $300,000 investment

7/11/2008

A Regional Growth Partnership venture capital fund announced yesterday it will invest $300,000 in a local pharmaceutical company that is to begin clinical trials in Toledo for a drug to treat Alzheimer s and other nervous-system diseases.

The Rocket Ventures investment is with Madison, Wis.-based Mithridion Inc., successor to Cognitive Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a firm set up by University of Toledo Profs. Wayne Hoss and William Messer, Jr.

Mithridion took over Cognitive Pharmaceuticals last month with $2.3 million in financing from a Wisconsin venture capital firm. Dr. Hoss said its drug for Alzheimer s differs from others by treating memory loss, confusion, and other symptoms and also getting at underlying causes of the disease and protecting the brain.