Halifax-based Altheda Wellness Innovation is hoping to launch a flagship product this year that can help delay mental decline in older people.

Founded by a team with an eight-figure exit on its résumé, Altheda is developing a range of products that forestall the ill effects of aging, so people can enjoy a better quality of life while living longer. It is now focused on a product – tentatively called NeurOcean – made from marine materials that can delay the onset of forgetfulness in old people.

The company has been funded so far by its four co-founders – Chris MacLean, Mel Kelly, Peter Ford and Matthew Allain – with support from family and friends. To finance more clinical trials and develop revenues, the company is now working on a funding round with an initial target of $500,000.

“Altheda is a healthy-aging company,” MacLean, the company’s CEO, said in an interview Tuesday at the NACO Summit in Ottawa, where he is meeting with potential investors. “We [society] have become really good at adding to the number of years we live, but not to ensuring a quality of life near the end.  . . . There’s a gap now between health-span and life-span. We’re helping to narrow that gap.”

He added the global average for that gap between “health-span and life-span” is now about 10 years.

The Altheda team was involved in the development of Panag, which announced in November 2018 its sale to Tetra Bio-Pharma for as much as $27million. The merged company encountered difficulties during the pandemic, and eventually MacLean and his partners coalesced around the idea of making anti-aging products using natural materials.

Altheda has quickly produced about 15 products, some of which it is licensing to partners in return for royalties. In particular, it is focusing on battling the effects of aging in five key areas: brain, eyes, bladder, skin and the immune system (including the gut).

The product that may be called NeurOcean has already gone through successful clinical trials in Japan, and has been shown to slow the progress of forgetfulness and even improve memory for female patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.

Altheda has submitted this product to Health Canada, seeking Class 3 approval that would allow it to be sold in Canada as an over-the-counter product. If successful, the company would work with a Nova Scotian seafood company, whose biological waste would be a key ingredient for the product. It would be sold by an existing partner and Altheda would receive revenues.

MacLean said this business arrangement would allow early revenues as the company develops its own sales team and manufacturing capacity.

So far, the Altheda team comprises the four co-founders. MacLean is responsible for the business side of the operation while Kelly, Ford and Allain focus more on the scientific and pharmaceutical end of things. The CEO spoke with pride of their ability to move products through the regulatory process quickly and inexpensively with the goal of bringing in revenue before too long.

The company will hire its fifth team member next month when it brings aboard a Chief Operations Officer.