Company: APM
Filing Date: 2025-10-06
Form Type: S-4
Source: 0001213900-25-096656
Chunk: 360

Company: Aptorum Group Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-10-06
Form: S-4
Chunk 360
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 to address AD epidemics has been recognized by the US Congress. “National Alzheimer’s Project Act” (NAPA) has been signed into law in 2011. As the result of the increased congressional funding, NIH spending on Alzheimer’s and related dementias research rose more than six -foldsince 2015, reaching $3.87 billion requested for FY2024 ($321 million increase over previous year). Current NIH budget proposal (nia.nih.gov/research/blog/2022/07/looking -forward-nihs-alzheimers-disease-and-related-dementias-fy-2024-bypass) describes prospective research opportunities organized in six broad categories, including: Diagnosis, Assessment, & Disease Monitoring: developing the next generation of biomarkers to enable detection and diagnosis even earlier than is now possible and to distinguish different forms of dementia from one another, as well as to leverage technologies that enable characterization of individual cells to advance dementia research. Since cognitive testing cannot reliably identify patients in pre -symptomaticstages of AD, effective biomarkers are necessary for successful patient enrollment and treatment monitoring. 203 The pathology of AD is characterized by neuronal death in several specific regions of the brain, including the hippocampus and cortex. However, the neuronal loss is a relatively late event in the disease progression and is typically preceded by metabolic changes, including formation of beta -amyloidplaques and tau protein tangles, synaptic dysfunction, synaptic loss, neurite retraction, and the appearance of other abnormalities, such as axonal transport defects. Figure below (adapted from Jack et al. (2010) Lancet Neurol9:119; Sperling et al. (2011) Alzheimers Dement., 7:280) depicts stages of AD progression from preclinical stage to dementia. To identify early stages of neurodegeneration, those preceding clinical manifestation, DiamiR focuses on detecting synaptic dysfunction/loss in hippocampus, a brain region affected early on during AD development. Stages of Neurodegeneration MCI, the first stage of symptomatic AD that can be diagnosed by the cognitive function analysis, is a condition that can also be indicative of other NDs. Not all MCI patients develop AD: (1) it is estimated that MCI patients convert to dementia at a rate of 10 -15% annually; at the same time (2) some MCI patients stabilize (do not develop AD) or revert to normal status; (3) approximately 20% of those MCI patients