AI Models Will Cure Alzheimer’s Within a Decade | Robin Guo

Nasal peptides aim to reach the brain without injections

Robin Guo left consumer investing at Andreessen Horowitz to run LionBio, which is spinning nanoparticle technology out of Columbia University to deliver peptides through the nose. The olfactory region has no blood-brain barrier, so a therapy that would otherwise be processed out before reaching the brain can get in, which is why LionBio is building a nasal GLP-1 and why Guo thinks brain diseases like Alzheimer's are addressable. Around that sits a larger bet on consumer biotech, where GLP-1s have made peptides familiar and people increasingly want to manage their own health.

Takeaways

• Nasal delivery slips past the blood-brain barrier. LionBio is spinning out nanoparticle technology from Columbia University developed by co-founder Cam Dong. The olfactory region has no blood-brain barrier, so a drug that would normally be processed out can reach the brain, and a nasal GLP-1 could curb appetite without Ozempic's nausea.
• Peptides are a broad, loosely regulated category. Guo defines them as chains of three to 50 or 70 amino acids, and 20 amino acids combine in millions of ways. That range covers approved drugs and grey-market research chemicals, including BPC-157, ipamorelin and stacks like Wolverine and Glow.
• GLP-1 demand keeps compounding. Fifteen million people are on GLP-1s and the market is worth $90bn, growing 15 to 20 percent a year. Guo expects use to keep rising as stigma fades and evidence builds on cardiovascular health, cholesterol, kidney function and addiction.
• AI plus BCI could prevent Alzheimer's. Two of Guo's grandparents have the disease and he says there is a reasonable chance his parents and he will too. AI and protein folding models are good at identifying targets, but the therapy still has to be delivered into the brain.
• Peptides need proper study and prescriptions. Guo argues the scientific community should take peptides seriously and run proper studies, that compounds should be prescribed by a physician, and that putting research chemicals into your own body is not legally allowed.
• Consumer biotech shifts care toward improvement. Guo points to colleagues at Superpower and Function and to a shift away from treating acute disease. Researchers studying amylin, which is involved in muscle growth, could let people combine it with GLP-1s and get jacked within five years.

LionBio's path to a first trial

1. Rat testing comes first, to see how the nasal peptide behaves in animals.
2. Toxicology tests follow, screening for harm before any human exposure.
3. Monkey testing then checks the drug in a larger animal.