January 14, 2026 — Leads & Copy — Alto Neuroscience, Inc. (NYSE: ANRO) announced the issuance of U.S. Patent Number 12,521,374, which covers methods of treating depression using ALTO-207, a combination of pramipexole and ondansetron.
The patent protects the use of ondansetron to mitigate side effects related to pramipexole, allowing patients to achieve the higher dose levels needed for the antidepressant benefits of pramipexole.
The newly issued patent claims further strengthen the company’s intellectual property estate supporting ALTO-207, an investigational therapy for patients with treatment-resistant depression.
The company believes that the ALTO-207 intellectual property portfolio, including previously issued patents and pending applications, provides protection extending into the mid-2040s.
According to Amit Etkin, M.D., Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Alto Neuroscience, this patent issuance strengthens the foundation of the ALTO-207 franchise.
Etkin also noted that durable intellectual property is critical for advancing precision-based treatments for depression and reflects the novelty of ALTO-207 and the company’s commitment to building long-term value for patients, clinicians, and shareholders. He believes that the breadth and duration of their issued and pending claims position ALTO-207 as a potentially enduring asset in the treatment landscape for depression.
The company believes that the issuance of this patent reinforces its strategy of building a portfolio of differentiated, innovative, precision-driven assets protected by robust intellectual property estates.
ALTO-207 is a fixed-dose combination of pramipexole, a dopamine D3-preferring D3/D2 agonist used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and ondansetron, an antiemetic, selective 5-HT3 receptor antagonist. As a fixed-dose combination, ALTO-207 is designed to enable rapid titration and higher dosing by mitigating the adverse events typically experienced with pramipexole. ALTO-207 is being developed to address the unmet need for patients with treatment-resistant depression.
In a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2a clinical trial with 32 patients with depression, ALTO-207 met primary and secondary endpoints, demonstrating improvements on MADRS compared to placebo. Patients receiving ALTO-207 reached a mean dose of 4.1mg per day. ALTO-207 was well tolerated during the maintenance period, with an adverse event rate similar to placebo.
Alto Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing personalized treatment options for psychiatric conditions. Alto’s Precision Psychiatry Platform™ measures brain biomarkers by analyzing EEG activity, neurocognitive assessments, wearable data, and other factors to identify patients more likely to respond to Alto product candidates. Alto’s pipeline includes drug candidates in bipolar depression, major depressive disorder, treatment resistant depression (TRD), schizophrenia, and other mental health conditions.
Source: Alto Neuroscience
