51�Թ�

The company had become interested in plasmalogen levels because some evidence suggested they were also low in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

No one was depicting the compounds developed by Phenomenome Discoveries, synthetic plasmalogen precursors, as a cure for RCDP.

“Bringing your plasmalogen levels up, and then seeing your function change accordingly — that’s the bridge we have to cross,” he said.

But if they could raise plasmalogen levels in the blood and lungs of children with the disorder, as they had in laboratory mice, Dr. Braverman believed they might at least improve the children’s respiratory function, possibly extending their lives.

They started collaborating, and when Dr. Goodenowe’s plasmalogen precursors raised plasmalogen levels in the blood and lungs of Dr. Braverman’s lab mice, they started discussing a clinical trial for RCDP.