This episode explores how restoring mitochondrial health could hold the key to slowing or even preventing age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s. Host Dylan speaks with Klaus Dugi of Vandria, a biotech company advancing mitochondrial-targeted therapies with promising early results.

Key Points:

Vandria’s cutting-edge work shows how improving mitochondrial health may offer a new path forward in treating neurodegenerative diseases. With promising preclinical results and clinical trials underway, mitophagy could soon be a mainstream medical strategy.

• What Makes Mitochondria a Hot Target: Mitochondria—the cell’s energy producers—decline in function with age, contributing to diseases like Alzheimer’s and muscle wasting. Vandria focuses on restoring mitochondrial health to reverse or prevent this damage.
• Vandria’s Unique Approach: Their lead compound, VNA-318, is a first-in-class mitophagy inducer that selectively removes damaged mitochondria and promotes cellular regeneration, showing striking results in animal models.
• Dual Action Potential: Unlike current Alzheimer’s treatments that offer either symptom relief or slow disease progression, Vandria’s compound may do both—improving memory within hours and reducing long-term brain inflammation and plaque buildup.
• Real-World Challenges & Strategy: With a lean 10-person team, Vandria must balance innovation with real-world obstacles—like formulating brain-penetrating compounds and developing biomarkers to track therapeutic effects.
• From Lab to Longevity: While Vandria focuses on treating age-related diseases (not general anti-aging), its therapies could eventually extend healthy life years by intervening before cognitive decline begins.