Nathan Cole Shares His Journey with ALS and Vision for Cortexa Therapeutics

Nathan Cole Shares His Journey with ALS and Vision for Cortexa Therapeutics at ASU Neurodegenerative Disease Research Conference

Cortexa Therapeutics Founder Highlights the Urgent Need for New ALS Treatments at Fifth Annual ASU-Banner Conference
 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — October 5, 2026 — Nathan Cole, President and Founder of Cortexa Therapeutics, was a featured speaker at the Fifth Annual ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Conference, sharing his personal experience living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the journey that led him to establish a biotechnology company focused on developing a new approach to treating the disease.

Cole presented “My Life with ALS” on October 1 at ASU SkySong in Scottsdale. His presentation was followed by a conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Kordower, founding director of the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center and the Charlene and J. Orin Edson Distinguished Director at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.

   

Kordower, a recognized leader in neurodegenerative disease research and experimental therapeutics, recently joined Cortexa Therapeutics as a Scientific Advisor.

For Cole, the opportunity to address researchers, clinicians and leaders working to advance the understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases brought together the personal and scientific sides of a journey that began more than two years ago.

A husband, father and Navy and Marine Corps veteran, Cole enlisted in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman in 2013. He later deployed to the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East before attending Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, he began flight training in Pensacola, Florida.
His life changed dramatically in 2024.

During his presentation, Cole described the first signs that something was wrong, beginning with persistent muscle twitching and a significant loss of hand strength in the spring of 2024. By August, declining mobility had forced him to give up playing hockey.

After months of neurological testing, electromyography and blood testing to rule out other conditions, Cole received confirmation of ALS in late 2024 and early 2025. A second opinion at Barrow Neurological Institute confirmed the diagnosis.

Cole also gave attendees a firsthand perspective on the speed at which ALS can progress. After his diagnosis, he remained able to walk with a walker for approximately a year and retained the ability to feed himself, text and write for about eight months. Today, he primarily uses a power wheelchair along with adaptive equipment for bathing, toileting and transfers, and has experienced a noticeable decline in speech during the past six months.

Against that backdrop, Cole turned his attention toward understanding the science behind the disease.
Following his diagnosis, he immersed himself in research surrounding proteinopathy, neuroinflammation, neuroimmune and metabolic dysfunction, excitotoxicity and other mechanisms associated with neuronal degeneration. That work ultimately led him to begin developing the scientific hypothesis behind Cortexa Therapeutics.

Cortexa is pursuing a dual-pathway therapeutic strategy designed to address both excitotoxicity and calcium dysregulation, mechanisms believed to play important roles in neuronal degeneration. Rather than focusing solely on managing symptoms or producing incremental improvements, the company is working toward a precision-driven approach intended to protect vulnerable neurons and address fundamental mechanisms contributing to ALS progression.

The urgency behind that work is deeply personal. Only a limited number of FDA-approved treatments are widely used for ALS, and their impact on disease progression remains modest. Cortexa is pursuing a streamlined development strategy with the goal of advancing its first therapeutic candidate toward human clinical trials as rapidly as possible.

The potential implications may extend beyond ALS. Mechanisms involving neuroprotection, calcium regulation and cellular resilience are also relevant to other neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.

The addition of Dr. Kordower as a Scientific Advisor strengthens Cortexa’s efforts to translate its scientific strategy toward clinical development. Before joining ASU, Kordower spent more than three decades on the faculty at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and has authored or contributed to more than 400 research papers, books and book chapters. His extensive work in neurodegeneration and experimental therapeutics brings valuable scientific and translational expertise to Cortexa.

Cole’s appearance at the ASU-Banner conference offered a perspective rarely found in scientific discussions of neurodegenerative disease: that of a patient simultaneously living with the consequences of ALS while working to help develop a potential treatment for it.

His message underscored both the devastating pace of the disease and the urgency of accelerating meaningful innovation for patients and families who cannot afford to wait.

About Cortexa Therapeutics
Cortexa Therapeutics is a biotechnology startup pioneering a new approach to the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Founded by Nathan Cole, a Marine Corps officer diagnosed with ALS at age 31, the company is pursuing a dual-pathway therapeutic strategy targeting excitotoxicity and calcium dysregulation associated with neuronal degeneration.

Driven by urgency, scientific innovation and the belief that patients deserve more than incremental progress, Cortexa is working to rapidly translate its research toward the clinic. Its approach may also have implications for other neurodegenerative diseases in which neuroprotection and cellular resilience play important roles, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.
Learn more at cortexatherapeutics.com.