“Epilepsy is really a classical neurological disorder,” Lars Pinborg told the audience at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) annual conference on Sunday. “Or is it?” Pinborg, of Rigshospitalet's The Neuroscience Center in Denmark, was chairing a session dedicated to an alternative hypothesis, summed up in the session title: “Is epilepsy a psychiatric disorder?”
Marvel Biotechnology Inc. has synthesized purine compounds acting as adenosine A2A receptor (ADORA2A) antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, depression, multiple sclerosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), scleroderma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
Gate Neurosciences Inc. was first founded in 2019, but officially launched last week with two clinical-stage assets and a bold goal: to develop better drugs for CNS disorders and identify better-suited patients for those drugs. The company’s first molecular target is the NMDA receptor. Gate has acquired the rights to two NMDA receptor modulators, zelquistinel and apimostinel.
Following the readout of a phase II trial evaluating its COVID-19 oral antiviral Pentarlandir (SNB-01), Taiwan’s Syneurx International Corp. said it expects to launch a phase III test of the candidate in the next few months.
Bipolar disorder (BPD) is disabling, destructive and notoriously difficult to diagnose. Research indicates that up to 40% of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder or unipolar depression actually have BPD and treating them with antidepressants alone runs an elevated risk of worsening their condition. But the issue is not one-sided: other studies found that 30% to 60% of patients diagnosed with BPD do not meet the clinical criteria for the illness and may be taking powerful mood stabilizers needlessly while failing to receive potentially beneficial therapies.
By analyzing single-cell responses to ketamine administration, a multinational team of researchers has identified a potassium channel that contributes to the long duration of ketamine administration.
Wysa Ltd.’s artificial intelligence-based digital therapy received FDA breakthrough device designation for adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain, depression and anxiety. The device delivers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) via a digital companion or conversational agent on a smartphone.
If it is now acknowledged the gut microbiota plays a role in the pathophysiology of depression, the specific biochemical mechanisms underlying this connection are hard to unpick and poorly understood.
Shares of Eliem Therapeutics Inc. fell 56% on the company’s announcement that it would end development of its non-opioid palmitoylethanolamide prodrug, ETX-810, in diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain following a phase IIa failure. It was part of a double dose of bad news reported by Seattle-based Eliem, which also is delaying phase II development of depression candidate ETX-155 to resolve issues of lower-than-expected drug exposure in a phase I study of the neuroactive steroid GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulator in photosensitive epilepsy.
Blue Note Therapeutics Inc. took a new approach to expanding its pipeline of prescription digital therapeutics (PDT) with an exclusive licensing agreement with the University of Sydney for Conquerfear, a metacognitive intervention that helps cancer survivors cope with the fear of disease recurrence. Blue Note has developed its PDTs internally to date but hopes to convert Conquerfear’s elements, which are typically delivered face-to-face, into a PDT for the U.S. and Canada. As a digital therapy, the program could potentially reach many more patients.
