Cognoptix Elects Board Chairman, New Director

Acton, Mass.-based Cognoptix Inc. has elected its President and CEO, Paul D. Hartung, as Chairman of the Board. The company also has elected a new director, Christine de los Reyes, Pharm.D., vice president of business development and strategic planning for Alopexx Enterprises LLC.

Cognoptix is an emerging medical device company that is developing the Sapphire II eye test designed to identify Alzheimer’s disease patients via a beta-amyloid (A-beta) signature in their eyes.

On Sept. 30, Cognoptix closed the first tranche of a Series D round of financing totaling over $15 million. The round was co-led by new investor Alopexx and existing investor Inventages, with participation from original investor, Launchpad Venture Group.

“Christine brings to Cognoptix significant international business development experience, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector,” said Hartung. “We expect Christine to be extremely helpful to Cognoptix as we fast-forward the completion of the clinical development of our Sapphire II eye test, which we believe will help change the course of Alzheimer’s disease by enabling early diagnosis at point-of-care.”

Alopexx Enterprises is a healthcare investment and development firm based in Concord, Mass. Most recently, de los Reyes was founder and managing director of BiotechPartnering Solutions, a business development consulting firm that advises life science companies on partnering strategy, search for potential partners, coordination of technical evaluation and due diligence, deal structure and transaction negotiation. She has been a member of the advisory board of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization, a non-profit trade association that represents companies involved in neuroscience, academic neuroscience research centers and brain-illness advocacy groups. Previously, de los Reyes was executive director of licensing & development at Pfizer, with a focus on in-licensing in several therapeutic areas including neuroscience and ophthalmology.

Hartung is a long-time life sciences executive with a track record in launching successful startup businesses and leading Fortune 500 organizations. He has raised over $32 million in angel and venture capital funding for Cognoptix, leading the company from concept through clinical trials, with outstanding Phase 2 results. He serves on the board of directors of Medical Development Group, a medical technology professional organization. He has extensive experience in the laser and medical device industries, including managing manufacturing for Summit Technology Inc., a developer of the LASIK procedure and other laser eye correction procedures.

By detecting a specific fluorescent signature of ligand-marked A-beta in the supranucleus region of the human lens, Sapphire II achieved a sensitivity of 85 percent and a specificity of 95 percent in differentiating 20 patients who were clinically diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s from a group of 20 age-matched healthy volunteers in a Phase II clinical trial. In addition, the Sapphire II test showed superior correlation to PET (positron emission tomography) amyloid brain imaging, with 95 percent specificity for Sapphire II versus 80 percent for PET brain imaging.