Cantabio Pharmaceuticals Inc (OTCMKTS:CTBO) Hopes To Be The Next AVXL

Cantabio Pharmaceuticals Inc (OTCMKTS:CTBO) has taken the OTC Markets by storm. The tiny biotech has quickly become a volume leader and a price mover. Investors are hoping that CTBO turns into another Anavex Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:AVXL) as both companies are focused on Alzheimer's and AVXL went from OTC to NASDAQ and made a lot of penny stock investors rich. Can CTBO be the next AXVL?Cantabio describes itself as being focused on bringing novel, first in class drug candidates into clinical trials and beyond through the discovery and development of innovative pharmacological chaperone and protein delivery based therapeutics, focusing on protein systems implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and oxidative stress. Cantabio’s strategy combines therapeutic focus, target family biophysics, drug discovery technology and expertise into an innovative drug discovery approach and its current main focus is on identifying and developing small molecule pharmacological chaperones for clinical trials. In addition, the company is developing therapeutic proteins that can pass through the blood-brain barrier to supplement existing levels of proteins, which display loss of function during disease conditions.CTBO was formed last December after the merger with Gardedam Therapeutics Inc. Having completed the merger, Cantabio issued 15.5 million shares of its common stock to the holders of Gardedam common stock. Under the terms of the Merger, these shares will be restricted from trading for a period of one year from the closing of the Merger. After the close of the Merger a total of 27.25 million shares of common stock will be outstanding. Cantabio CEO Gergely Toth said upon completion of the merger:

“The Merger strengthens our financial position allowing us to accelerate our drug discovery and development of clinical candidates for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. With recent research establishing a genetic link between the DJ-1 protein and familial and sporadic PD, AD and other neurodegenerative diseases we are particularly focused on rapidly advancing into clinical trials our novel DJ-1 protein therapeutic candidates. These may protect from oxidative stress and protein misfolding, both processes that have been linked to the onset and progression of these diseases. In view of the lack of approved therapies for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, our pharmacological chaperone and CNS penetrant engineered protein drug discovery technologies provide potential for the development of disease modifying clinical candidates with novel mechanisms of action.”

In April, Cantabio announced a new preclinical therapeutic program for Alzheimer’s Disease which it is pursuing through its drug discovery partnership with NovAliX. This program is aimed at the development of small molecule chaperones that stabilize the Abeta peptide, the aggregation of which is considered to be a key element in the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.This new program, which is the result of collaborative work between Cantabio and NovAliX, is based on the discovery of novel small molecules that interact with the Abeta peptide, which were identified using NovAliX’s high throughput chemical microarray based surface plasmon resonance (SPR-WORM) screen, a unique high throughput biophysics based binding assay platform.

Cantabio aims to develop a novel therapy for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, which impacts an estimated 5.4 million Americans, including 200,000 individuals below the age of 65. Alzheimer’s is the 6^th leading cause of death in the United States, with 700,000 seniors expected to die in 2016 with the disease. The annual number of new cases of Alzheimer's is projected to double by 2050, with a public cost of direct care currently at $236 billion. There is currently no disease modifying treatment available for this growing problem.

Currently trading with a market cap of $88 million, CTBO has quickly become one of the most active names on the OTC Markets. When you consider that AVXL ran to nearly $15 last year, you get the picture of how excited investors can get over an Alzheimer's play. The market potential for Alzheimer's treatment is enormous and CTBO is hoping to capture its share. We will be updating Insider Financial as soon as we know more. For continuing coverage on CTBO, sign up for our free newsletter and get our next hot stock pick!Disclosure: We have no position in CTBO and have not been compensated for this article.