About AltPep

Our Focus

Detect and Treat Early

AltPep is developing groundbreaking disease-modifying treatments and detection tools for amyloid diseases by targeting early molecular triggers: α-sheet toxic soluble oligomers. Our customized, synthetic peptides are designed to bind selectively to α-sheet toxic soluble oligomers in order to both detect and neutralize them throughout disease progression. AltPep’s emphasis is on early, pre-symptomatic detection and treatment. 

Our lead programs focus on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, with other amyloid diseases on the horizon. AltPep’s goal is to change the course of these debilitating diseases that affect over a billion people around the globe.

Decades of scientific research by the Daggett Research Group at the University of Washington provided the foundation for AltPep’s innovative approach.

Leadership

Valerie Daggett, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Valerie Daggett, PhD

Chief Executive Officer
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Gil Block, MD, PhD

Chief Medical Officer

Gil Block, MD, PhD

Chief Medical Officer
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Nancy Hill

Chief Product Officer

Nancy Hill

Chief Product Officer
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Patrik Edenholm

Chief Operating Officer

Patrik Edenholm

Chief Operating Officer
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Kurt Becker

Chief Legal Officer

Kurt Becker

Chief Legal Officer
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Charles Horne

Chief Financial Officer

Charles Horne

Chief Financial Officer
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Eric Gier

Vice President, Finance

Eric Gier

Vice President, Finance
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Jeff Posakony, PhD

VP Translational Development

Jeff Posakony, PhD

VP Translational Development
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Board of Directors

Valerie Daggett, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Valerie Daggett, PhD

Chief Executive Officer
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Chad Robins

Board Chair

Chad Robins

Board Chair
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Alan Colowick

Board Member

Alan Colowick

Board Member
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Will Liang

Board Member

Will Liang

Board Member
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Joel Marcus

Board Member

Joel Marcus

Board Member
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Todd Patrick

Board Member

Todd Patrick

Board Member
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Scientific Advisory Board

Paul Aisen

Professor, USC

Paul Aisen

Professor, USC
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Roger Armen

Professor, Thomas Jefferson University

Roger Armen

Professor, Thomas Jefferson University
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Ronald DeMattos

Former SVP and CSO for Neurobiologicals, Eli Lilly and Company

Ronald DeMattos

Former SVP and CSO for Neurobiologicals, Eli Lilly and Company
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Sir Alan Fersht

Professor, Cambridge University

Sir Alan Fersht

Professor, Cambridge University
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Samuel Gandy

Professor, Mount Sinai

Samuel Gandy

Professor, Mount Sinai
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Charles Glabe

Professor, UC Irvine

Charles Glabe

Professor, UC Irvine
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Steven E. Kahn, MB, ChB

Professor, University of Washington

Steven E. Kahn, MB, ChB

Professor, University of Washington
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Michael Levitt

Professor, Stanford University

Michael Levitt

Professor, Stanford University
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The Impact of Amyloid Diseases

The number of amyloid diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
0 +
The number of people affected by amyloid diseases around the globe.
0 B+
The US economic burden of dementia alone.
$ 0 B

We are innovators working to transform the diagnosis and treatment of amyloid diseases,enabling action earlier than ever thought possible.

Collaborate and grow with us.

Send us a note at BD@altpep.com to start a conversation.
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Valerie Daggett, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Valerie, the CEO/Founder of AltPep and an Endowed Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, has been a champion of groundbreaking research for over 30 years. Her inherent curiosity pushes her to uncover new ways of tackling problems in the field of amyloid diseases, where successes are few.  Her tenacity led to a revolutionary discovery of a protein structure that could dramatically change the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and over 50 other amyloid diseases. At AltPep, Valerie leads a team of innovators who are developing this platform to make the early, pre-symptomatic diagnosis and treatment of amyloid diseases a reality. Valerie holds a BA from Reed College, PhD from the University of California, San Francisco, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University. 

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Gil Block, MD, PhD

Chief Medical Officer

Gil is a seasoned drug development executive with over 35 years of experience focusing on neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. His leadership has contributed to the successful marketing approval of 8 NDAs and WMAs. Gil is a recognized innovator in the development of novel therapeutics, with broad expertise ranging from preclinical and clinical translation, and all phases of clinic development. Prior to AltPep, Gil held previous positions including Vice President and Head of Clinical Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology at Cephalon, Executive Director, US Drug Development/Global Medicine & Science, at AstraZeneca and Senior Director and Head of Clinical Neuropharmacology at Merck Research Labs. Gil is also currently an Adjunct Professor, Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University College of Medicine. Gil holds a BA, MD and PhD from Case Western Reserve University and was a neurology resident, chief resident and assistant professor at Cornell University Medical Center. 

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Nancy Hill

Chief Product Officer

Nancy has a track record of building and growing innovation-driven life science companies.  With extensive experience in biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies and strengths in product development, commercialization and operations, she has built global businesses leading to multiple successful exits. Prior to AltPep, Nancy was Executive Vice President of Operations and Program Management at Adaptive Biotechnologies and a member of the core executive team that grew the company from early start-up through IPO to a multi-billion dollar peak market cap. Nancy is currently a mentor for University of Washington’s Creative Destruction Lab focused on helping launch companies that aim to revolutionize healthcare outcomes.  She was also President of the Seattle Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.

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Patrik Edenholm

Chief Operating Officer

Patrik has decades of experience nurturing start-ups from foundation to successful companies including Ansel Communications Inc., a computer networking company that was named the fastest growing private company in Washington for two consecutive years in ‘95-’97.  As a founder and executive of these start-ups, Patrik has developed broad management skills including expertise in finance, recruiting, legal and strategic planning.  Patrik also has deep experience in negotiating and closing intellectual property transactions, having been involved in over 200 patent acquisition/licensing deals.  Patrik’s academic background covers law and economics including a JD from Berkeley, and master’s degrees in public Policy and Economics from Princeton and Berkeley respectively.  Earlier, Patrik earned his BA from Reed College.

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Kurt Becker

Chief Legal Officer

Kurt helped found AltPep Corporation and has been its lead legal officer since 2020.  He draws on his prior 11 years of experience in-house, 7 years running his own IP and technology licensing firm, several years at another startup, and 20 years at a large law firm.   He joined Perkins Coie after law school and rose to partner in the Licensing and Technology Group.  He worked in-house for 7 years in at a patent aggregator.  Kurt handled or supervised legal work for well over 1000 patent acquisition deals, supervised or helped negotiate IV’s asset divestitures and was the lead attorney on close more than $2 billion in outbound licensing transactions,  Kurt completed his undergrad at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his JD at the University of Michigan Law School.

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Charles Horne

Chief Financial Officer

Chuck has an expansive financial career that spans over four decades. His senior leadership experience in primarily technology-driven fields ranges from a $6 billion NYSE-listed company to smaller, growing companies. Chuck has held executive and managerial roles at Uwajimaya, Dell Computer, Silicon Graphics and was part of the executive team that turned around Safeco Corporation. Prior to AltPep, Chuck invested, advised, and served as CFO in multiple startup companies. His broad-based experience includes finance, accounting, auditing, procurement, human resources, and systems. Chuck holds a BA from University of California-Davis and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

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Eric Gier

Vice President, Finance

Eric most recently served at the VP of Finance at Viome Life Sciences.  Prior to that, he spent over a decade as the Chief Financial Officer of UnCruise Adventures, where he grew the company from a startup to over 450 employees who led the expedition cruise market in Alaska.  Eric has experience in the financial services market, both on the buy and sell side and formerly held a FINRA Series 7 license.  Eric currently holds a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification and has an MBA and MS from the University of Washington and an AB in Chemistry from Reed College.
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Jeff Posakony, PhD

VP Translational Development

Jeff has significant experience in drug discovery and development from both an academic and industry perspective. After earning his PhD in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia, he gained research experience in academic laboratories at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the NIH, where his work focused on PET radioimaging agents, anti-cancer therapeutics, and carbohydrate chemistry/RNA structural biology. Later, he transitioned to the biotech industry and has since played a key role in advancing small molecule (antiviral) and peptide (chronic pain) therapeutics into Phase I clinical trials. His translational work spans late-stage lead optimization, formulation development, and early-phase CMC, including cGMP manufacturing of both drug substance and drug product. Jeff now leads preclinical efficacy and toxicology efforts and directs CMC work at AltPep Corporation.
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Chad Robins

Board Chair

Chad Robins is the co-founder and CEO of Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: ADPT), a commercial-stage biotech company with an innovative platform that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease. Prior to co-founding Adaptive, Chad held numerous executive-level positions in medical technology, investment and real estate companies. In addition to AltPep, Chad is on the boards of Headlight, Life Science Washington, and AdvaMedDx. Chad holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Managerial Economics from Cornell University.

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Alan Colowick

Board Member

Alan Colowick is Senior Managing Director on the Technology-Life Sciences team at Matrix Capital Management Company, LP and its affiliate, AyurMaya Capital Management Company, LP. He currently also serves on the BODs of Acelyrin Inc, Alumis Therapeutics, Solve Therapeutics, Personalis, Inc., AC Immune SA, Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc., InCarda Therapeutics, Inc., XyloCor Therapeutics, and Teon Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Matrix, Dr. Colowick was a Partner at Sofinnova Investments, where he was Chairman of the BOD of two portfolio companies and helped lead their successful acquisitions (Velos Bio acquired by Merck for $2.75B and Principia Biopharma, Inc. acquired by Sanofi for $3.7B).

Prior to that, Dr. Colowick had an 18-year career in biotech including significant operating and executive roles at Amgen; Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, where he was CEO and led its acquisition by Celgene: and Celgene, where he was President of EMEA. Dr. Colowick received his MD from Stanford University and completed fellowship training in Hematology and Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He also holds an MPH from Harvard University.

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Will Liang

Board Member

Will Liang leads healthcare investments at Senator Investment Group, a New York-based multi-billion-dollar investment firm. Prior to Senator, Will held similar roles at investment firms backed by Blackstone and with ties to Tiger Management. He began his career as an M&A analyst at Lazard. In addition to AltPep, Will serves on the board of Ecovative and is a board observer at Mammoth Biosciences. Will is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

Joel S. Marcus

Board Member

Joel S. Marcus, JD, CPA, joined our Board in December 2020. He is Executive Chairman and Founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc/Alexandria Venture Investments, which is the preeminent developer of life science campuses with a mission to advance human health. Alexandria is an S&P 500 company with a total enterprise value of $33 billion and Alexandria Venture Investments is the company’s strategic venture capital platform. Prior to co-founding Alexandria, Joel had an extensive legal career specializing in corporate finance and capital markets, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. Joel received his BA and JD from UCLA.

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Todd Patrick

Board Member

Todd Patrick is the former CEO of Armata Pharmaceuticals (NYSE American: ARMP). Todd led the May 2019 merger of Armata’s two predecessor companies – C3J Therapeutics, where he was the President and CEO since 2010, and AmpliPhi Biosciences to create Armata. Todd earlier served as President and COO of ID Biomedical Corporation (IDB). Under his leadership, IDB grew to become the second largest influenza vaccine producer in North America prior to its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline for $1.7 billion in 2005. In addition to AltPep and Armata, Todd is on the Board of CRH Medical Corporation (NYSE: CRHM) and the non-profit Foster Foundation.

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Paul Aisen, MD

Professor, USC

Paul Aisen, MD is Professor of Neurology at USC; Director, Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute; Co-Director, Clinical Core for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; and a member of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium Leadership Team.  Dr. Aisen is a highly respected clinician who has led many Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials.

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Roger Armen, PhD

Professor, Thomas Jefferson University

Roger Armen, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Medical School of Thomas Jefferson University. He is an expert in medicinal chemistry and computational drug design. Dr. Armen is Co-discoverer of the α-sheet structure in the Daggett Research Group.

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Ronald DeMattos

Former SVP and CSO for Neurobiologicals, Eli Lilly and Company

Ronald B. DeMattos, PhD was formerly a Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for Neurobiologics at Lilly. Dr. DeMattos received his doctorate in molecular and cellular biochemistry (SUNY – Stony Brook, 1998) and performed a post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine (Holtzman Lab). Dr. DeMattos joined Lilly in 2002 andheld multiple scientific positions within Neuroscience Discovery over 20+ years. Dr. DeMattos discovered/developed numerous compounds for clinical studies in Alzheimer’s disease patients including Donanemab (approved) and Remternetug (Phase-3 ongoing), Lilly’s plaque lowering antibodies. He currently leads the Indianapolis Neurodegeneration group comprised of talented scientists and staff whose mission is to develop novel first-in class therapies for neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease indications.

Sir Alan Fersht, PhD

Professor, Cambridge University

Sir Alan Fersht, PhD is a Professor at Cambridge University and the Medical Research Council. He has co-founded 3 biotech companies including Cambridge Antibody Technology. Dr. Fersht serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of HFS Research and others.

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Samuel Gandy, MD, PhD

Professor, Mount Sinai

Sam Gandy, MD, PhD is Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Mount Sinai; Associate Director of the Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center; and Past Chairman of the National Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the Alzheimer’s Association.  Dr. Gandy is a clinician and scientific expert in the cell biology and toxicity of fibrillar and oligomeric forms of the amyloid beta peptide (Aβ).

Charles Glabe, PhD

Professor, UC Irvine

Charles Glabe, PhD is Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at University of California, Irvine.  Dr. Glabe is an expert in the structure and aggregation of amyloid proteins, particularly Aβ, and was the first to synthesize and characterize Aβ.  Dr. Glabe developed the widely used A11 antibody and made the seminal discovery that amyloidogenic toxic oligomers contain a common structure and common mechanism of pathogenesis.

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Steven E. Kahn, MB, ChB

Professor, University of Washington

Steven E. Kahn, MB, ChB, is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington (UW) and Director of the UW Diabetes Research Center. An expert in Type 2 diabetes, Dr. Kahn has performed human and animal studies of islet beta-cell function and the role of islet amyloid in the pathogenesis of the disease. He continues to participate in some of the major NIH clinical studies examining the pathophysiology, prevention and treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

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Michael Levitt, PhD

Professor, Stanford University

Michael Levitt, PhD pioneered the field of protein modeling and multiscale computational approaches, for which he was co-recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Affymetrix, Amgen, Cocrystal Pharma, Dupont Merck Pharmaceuticals and others.

The Risk of AIRA

Amyloid plaque are targeted and mobilized by anti-amyloid antibodies (such as lecanamab and donanamab). The antibody-bound plaque clear through the brain’s immune cells, called microglia, by binding Fc-gamma Receptors (FCgRs). (Alzheimers Dis Rep. 2023) This binding alters the microglia resulting in inflammation and cytokine storm and thereby creating a high risk of ARIA (https://ajronline.org/doi/epdf/10.2214/AJR.22.28461).