NCInnovation this month approved a $1.1 million grant to back UNC Pembroke researcher Dr. Ben A.Bahr's work on a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Ben A. Bahr, a William C. Friday endowed chair and distinguished professor at UNC Pembroke, and team are working on a new therapeutic compound to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 55 million people worldwide, as well as other brain disorders. Current treatment options are expensive, inaccessible and/or have limited effectiveness. Bahr’s patent-pending compounds work to reduce multiple pathogenic proteins that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

"Dr. Ben Bahr’s research represents the very best of UNC Pembroke’s mission to serve and innovate," UNC Pembroke Chancellor Robin Cummings said in a press release. "His efforts to develop a new therapeutic compound for Alzheimer’s disease, an illness that impacts millions worldwide, represents the transformative potential of faculty-led research at regional institutions. We are grateful to NCInnovation for investing in this critical work and proud to support Dr. Bahr and his team as they advance life-changing solutions in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases.”

Dr. Bahr's research at the Robeson County public university focuses on a different type of treatment that could offer Alzheimer's patients a more accessible and affordable option.

"The current therapeutic that’s been newly approved by the FDA are called immuno-therapies, they’re actually human proteins that are very expensive to generate," Dr. Bahr told media outlet WPTF.

The NCInnovation R&D grant will help Dr. Bahr advance toward clinical trials. As WPTF reported, "The team at UNC Pembroke is currently doing testing on mice with the same human gene mutations that cause Alzheimer’s looking for improved memory, reduced eating due to nausea and changes in breathing."

Dr. Bahr said during the interview, "It takes an organization like NCInnovation to give us the confidence to move forward and approach the FDA and form the relationships with big companies in our state that really want to be game changers to try to treat dementia risk-factors long before you’re actually dealing with the Alzheimer’s disease."