Treventis CEO Bill McIntosh figures his company, which is using its proprietary technologies to discover and initiate drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease patients, is about 18 months away from significant expansion and a Series A round of venture financing in the neighborhood of $10 million.

Fortunately, it has plenty of work to build upon during that time, and recent support from BioAdvance, to the tune of $550,000, will allow Treventis to get to its next key milestone--proof of efficacy in animal model of Alzheimer's.  To be certain, BioAdvance took Treventis through the ringer in terms of due diligence will work closely with the company as a result of Treventis' high marks.

A particularly devastating disease in the way it impacts sufferers and their caregivers and loved ones, Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly. Therapeutic options for patients are fairly limited. Most therapeutic options in development address a single target, while Treventis is focused on multiple targets and it's seeking new chemical entities that modulate shared targets.  The company has also developed a proprietary discovery platform--a high resolution, 3D, computer-based model of the common conformational region--that enables rational design of multiple lead compounds.

The bulk of Treventis' science comes from world renowned chemist and neurologist Donald Weaver, who heads the company's labs in Nova Scotia and has made it his mission to find a way to help Alzheimer's patients.  That personal interest runs throughout the company, as even one of its investors lost both parents to the disease.