Charlottetown-based drug discovery company Neurodyn Inc. said Wednesday it has bought an Alzheimer’s prescription drug candidate from a German company, hoping to fast-track the product to market.

The company said in a press release it bought all the assets related to the drug Memogain from Galantos Pharma GmbH, based in Mainz, Germany. Memogain has completed an extensive preclinical development program, which means it will begin Phase 1 clinical trials late this year.

Though Neurodyn did not disclose the terms of the deal, executive director Robert Cervelli said in an interview it paid some cash up front, and the rest of the payment will come from a royalty to be paid later.

 “In business, they say timing is everything and we believe it is extremely good timing to be coming out with an Alzheimer’s drug now,” said Cervelli. “Over the course of the past year, there have been some spectacular failures for drugs for Alzheimer’s. And there have been no new drugs on the market for 10 years for Alzheimer’s patients.”

Neurodyn, which raised $1.5 million in funding earlier this year, is best known for developing early treatments for neurological diseases, such as NeuroPro, a dietary supplement for early-stage Parkinson’s disease. The company also runs a testing facility for neurological drugs, and Galantos has used the facility for five years.

Neurodyn and Galantos got to know each other over that time, said Cervelli, and the German company decided that Neurodyn would be the best company to develop Memogain. The fact that it is taking a deferred payment shows the faith the German company has in Neurodyn, he said.

Because of the lack of new Alzheimer’s drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is willing to accelerate the approval process of some drug candidates, he added. “There could be significantly fewer clinical trials and we could achieve market approval in as little as 30 months,” said Cervelli.

Memogain is a patented improvement on the generic drug, galantamine, a plant-derived compound that is widely prescribed to enhance cognition in people suffering from mild to moderate levels of the disease. Memogain was developed to have greater penetration in the brain than galantamine, and without its unpleasant gastro-intestinal side effects.

Sales of galantamine now exceed $500 million per year, and Neurodyn said in its statement the “revenue potential for Memogain could extend beyond the current galantamine market.”

Cervelli said the company plans to begin its Phase 1 trials (which establish whether the drug is safe for human consumption) for Memogain in Europe later this year. Once those trials are concluded, it plans to hold discussions with the FDA and European Medicines Agency to determine how to proceed with subsequent trials.

Neurodyn is establishing itself as the most acquisitive member of the Atlantic Canadian startup community. Last July, it bought NeuroQuest Inc. of Halifax to broaden its portfolio and add to its personnel.

Cervelli said the company is now raising more capital, though he declined to say what the target would be.