Radio Frequencies Show Potential in Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

By Deborah Borfitz

January 23, 2025 | Through a fortunate stroke of serendipity 15 years ago, researchers experimenting with a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease found that radio frequency (RF) energy could improve cognitive health. It was not unlike the discovery of penicillin based on the unexpected appearance of a bacteria-killing mold in a petri dish, says Edward Goodwin, Ph.D., chief science officer (CSO) of NeuroEM Therapeutics. 

The technology—known as transcranial electromagnetic treatment leveraging radio frequencies (TEMT-RF)—has already been demonstrated in the lab to break down three aggregated proteins in the brain responsible for over 30 human neurodegenerative diseases, he points out, so “it could be an effective treatment for more than Alzheimer’s.” But the company is laser focused on the amyloid beta (Aꞵ) and tau protein aggregates seen in patients with Alzheimer’s, a mind-robbing disease diagnosed in over half a million people every year in the U.S. alone. 

Alzheimer’s is notoriously difficult to treat because it affects cells in the brain and appears to involve multiple proteins, says Goodwin, in explaining why so many creative ideas have historically “crashed and burned.” Most disease-modifying therapies to date have been pharmaceuticals designed to interact with one protein, meaning they wouldn’t necessarily target any of the others. Some also come with unpleasant side effects—in the case of widely prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors, in pumping up levels of acetylcholine and acting as a less toxic version of the nerve agent Sarin. 

The latest antibody treatments can help reduce the buildup of Aꞵ into large plaques and smaller aggregates called oligomers outside neurons but the Aꞵ and tau aggregates inside cells remain, he adds.  While the antibody treatments have succeeded in cutting the progression of cognitive decline by about 25%, patients are still declining by 75%.  

NeuroEM Therapeutic is developing a type of “technaceutical” that directly attacks the abnormal amyloid structures responsible for the cognitive deficits seen in Alzheimer’s patients, says CEO Chuck Papageorgiou. Other technology solutions include a long list of diagnostic devices (e.g., wearable for tracking sleep and gait patterns and EEG applications powered by artificial intelligence) as well as consumer wellness devices (e.g., entrainment and neurostimulation gadgets), and invasive deep brain stimulation devices trying to encourage the brain to heal itself. But none of them have been proven to work particularly well. 

Other groups are likewise seeking to modulate neuronal activity to treat Alzheimer’s by, for example, applying a direct current to stimulate blood flow (e.g., invasive deep brain stimulation) or using magnetic fields (noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulation) to directly impact specific areas of the brain. NeuroEM alone uses RF electromagnetic fields (EMFs), says Goodwin. These are classic radio waves generating light-speed particles (photons) whose electric field will “twist and torque” large, asymmetrical complexes having a dipole moment (i.e., positive and negative end)—notably, the long, spiral-shaped amyloid fibrils that are a hallmark of the disease.  

It's a totally different process than devices attempting to treat patients with electric currents or magnetic fields, and one that would be difficult for another company to replicate, Goodwin says. NeuroEM Therapeutics has a lengthy patent portfolio covering the vast therapeutic potential of TEMT-RF to treat conditions once thought untreatable. 

Over the next 18 to 24 months, the technology should find its way to market as a direct-to-consumer wellness device for cognitive wellness, says Amanda Patanow, chief marketing and product officer. The company is raising venture capital towards that goal. The NeuroEM team is also on a parallel path to gain regulatory approval for the medical device, a cap, as an FDA-approved treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, which will take at least three years and require $25-30 million in funding for large, placebo-controlled trials.  

Results of the initial pilot study in people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease were published in 2019 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (DOI: 10.3233/JAD-190367). Seven of the eight study participants in either the two-month treatment timeframe or during the two-week follow-up period showed a larger-than-expected improvement in cognition rather than the continued decline seen with current treatments. 

The trial, which had several extensions, ran for over two and a half years, says Goodwin. One enrolled patient, initially diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s, has been on the treatment for over four years and is “now back in the MCI [mild cognitive impairment] space.” That is, cognition improved by reversing the decline of two years of Alzheimer’s and has remained stable ever since.  

Device Prototype

The TEMT-RF treatment approach began with work at the University of South Florida (USF) under the leadership of Gary Arendash, Ph.D. (NeuroEM founder, scientist emeritus, and former CSO), and Chuanhai Cao, Ph.D. (head of the company’s USF research team), who wrote their first paper about the utility of EMF treatment in Alzheimer’s disease transgenic mice back in 2010. At the time, Goodwin says, he was president of Connecticut’s largest angel investing group and one of its members was a radio enthusiast who happened to see an article about the technology in Popular Mechanics. 

That led to asking Arendash to pitch the idea of funding the pilot study to the group, says Goodwin. After acting on their suggestions, he came back a year later to receive the needed investment. NeuroEM Therapeutics itself was founded in 2013. 

Researchers in Korea and Iran also took note of the findings coming out of the Arendash lab and have replicated the cognitive enhancement in studies with mice, he notes. “They have also performed this using somewhat different frequencies but still in the RF range and demonstrated... [the animals] have much fewer plaques, which is presumably due to the breakdown of the Aꞵ that forms the plaques.” 

The prototype is designed to be worn comfortably “much like a shower cap,” says Patanow. It is attached by wires to a small box, worn on the upper arm, which holds the electronics and the battery.  

Treatment sessions are twice a day in one-hour increments, during which users can go about their normal daily activities, she says. As shared by one of the initial study participants, “you can do everything except get in the shower or walk in the rain.” 

In its current state, the device still looks like it came out of a lab, says Goodwin. “It does not look cute, it does not come in multiple colors, but I have no problem putting one on.” 

The go-to-market design will look considerably different and engineered to be flexible, convenient, and easy to use, says Patanow. Wellness versions of the TEMT-RF technology will be separately branded from the Alzheimer’s versions and, ultimately, other targeted patient groups.  

Future Hopes

A great deal of evidence has now amassed showing that RF energy can have a lot of positive benefits for people with Alzheimer’s—in terms of improving their mental acuity and reaction time as well as reducing the onset of mental fatigue—and this has been the subject of ongoing communication with the FDA regarding the wellness device, Patanow says. The approach has also been labeled as “non-significant risk” by the Western Institutional Review Board. 

NeuroEM was also the first company with a non-pharmaceutical treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that was designated a Breakthrough Device by the FDA back in 2020, says Patanow. 

The company nonetheless filed for Chapter 11/Sub V bankruptcy in early 2023, from which it successfully emerged later that year. This was when Papageorgiou, who was instrumental in guiding the company through its restructuring phase, officially took the helm as the company’s new CEO. 

The long-term hope of the company is to offer its treatment to people with MCI to prevent any of them from transitioning to Alzheimer’s. Goodwin’s prediction is that TEMT-RF would work in individuals who are in that early stage of the disease continuum since the technology’s mode of action is disaggregation. 

“Maybe everyone who is 50 years old could do this for a couple of months a year to stave off issues,” Goodwin muses. After all, Papageorgiou interjects, Alzheimer’s disease is known to start developing 20 years before the first symptoms appear. His personal perspective is that the longer life expectancy he is promised by better health and good nutrition has no point without a properly functioning brain.   

“The cognitive aging that happens over time that we have just accepted as inevitable we believe doesn’t have to be inevitable anymore,” Patanow adds. “We have the opportunity to really change that, and in a way that does not require drugs with very toxic side effects.” 

The early preclinical studies hinted that the approach might ultimately find utility with those worried about maintaining their brain performance as well. Even among the control mice that did not have amyloid buildup in their brain, researchers observed an improvement in cognition from the electromagnetic field treatment, Goodwin says. 

Admittedly, the technology sounds almost too good to be true, says Goodwin. “There have been no side effects that we have seen, other than maybe your hair gets messed up a bit when you put the cap on.” RF safety has been well studied because of the early popularity of cell phones, regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “and we’re using it below the FCC-allowed levels for routine public exposure... the safety profile on this is fantastic.”