A Maryland startup has won a federal grant to help develop an olfactory home treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

Evon Medics (Elkridge, Md.) announced today that it won the $2.5 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for Phase II clinical trials of its non-invasive computerized olfactory training (COT) medical device. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is sponsoring the grant.

The device uses chemosensory stimulation of the primary olfactory cortex — part of the brain where neuropathology of Alzheimer’s begins — to treat the disease. It employs proprietary stimulation parameters that overcome olfactory cortex desensitization and administers olfactory cognitive tasks that engage the olfactory cortex to increase its neuroplasticity and induce lasting positive changes in its functions, according to Evon Medics.

“This additional non-dilutive funding is yet another milestone achievement and a huge step towards our goal of getting our potentially disruptive and safe treatment to the millions of patients around the world suffering from Alzheimer’s disease,” said Evon Medics COO Charles Nwaokobia in a news release. “I believe the COT can effectively bridge the treatment gap and will be a delight to all Alzheimer’s disease patients who suffer from the numerous side effects of the currently available palliative treatments for AD. The pilot study showed very encouraging results and I am confident of similar results for the pivotal study we are about to embark on.”

Evon Medics was founded in 2013 by Johns Hopkins University-trained physicians. The company is also developing therapeutics and devices for the treatment of opioid use disorder, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, treatment-refractory depression and other chronic neurological diseases that have remained elusive to treatment.