Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia consistently rank in the top five killer diseases in developed countries. In Australia, it is now our number one leading cause of death, overtaking heart disease. It accounts for nearly 10% of all registered deaths.
The slow decline of a loved one takes a heavy emotional toll on family. There’s safety concerns, personal care stress, communication barriers leading to care givers often suffering themselves from depression.
But there is a glimmer of hope. With such a large number of people suffering from a central nervous system disease there is a big opportunity for the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Through 2024 and 2025 a number of drugs were approved by the FDA and right in the middle of all these clinical trials was a small Australian listed company providing the tests.
This company is Cogstate Ltd (ASX: CGS) and it plays a pivotal role in the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
Today, with Nick Sladen from LSN Emerging Companies we break down Cogstate and discover an Australian listed company operating at a global scale, helping to solve a global problem.
Topics covered
- How many people suffer from Alzheimer’s and why is it growing?
- What does Cogstate do and what is the origin story?
- What tests do Cogstate do during these clinical trials?
- What does the breakthrough and creation of the drugs meant for testing and trials – do they speed up? Do more come to market? Or do other companies stop trying?
- Cogstate primarily makes its money from its involvement in clinical trials – how long do these run for, and how can someone see the pipeline of trials?
- Who are Cogstate’s competitors and what kind of moat does Cogstate have?
- Cogstate’s data flywheel
- Would a pharmaceutical company buy Cogstate? Is there any value in them doing that?
- How vulnerable is Cogstate to the spend of these pharmaceutical companies on their development of Alzheimer’s drugs?
- If the investment case does not work out – what would have gone wrong?
- What metrics do you look for every time you open the annual report?
- What is Cogstate’s pipeline for other central nervous system treatments outside of Alzheimer’s?
