Graymatters Health Ltd. seeks patent protection for its non-invasive, self-neuromodulation approach for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. In what represents the company’s second PCT filing, GMH’s co-founders, Oded Kraft, Rani Cohen and Shai Attia, describe a method for achieving a reduction of at least six points in a Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5, following neurofeedback treatment delivered for eight to 12 consecutive weeks.

Mapping brain circuits and studying the neural signals that are activated during post-traumatic stress could provide an answer to the generalized fear associated with this disorder. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have identified a change in the expression of neurotransmitters as an adaptive response that could trigger this effect.

For most psychiatric illnesses, the precipitating event is mysterious. Many conditions are thought to result from a mix of genetic risk and environmental factors, but the specific trigger remains unknown. In post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the environmental trigger is usually clear. In many cases, it is all the affected individuals can think about. “Intrusive reliving” of the triggering situation is one of the core features of PTSD.

Phoenix Pharmalabs Inc. has reported findings from in vivo studies that demonstrated that the company’s lead compound, PPL-138, reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and decreased alcohol consumption in a rat model of PTSD/alcohol use disorder (AUD). The studies were conducted at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Florida Atlantic University under a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The U.S. FDA granted Graymatters Health Ltd. 510(k) clearance to market Prism for PTSD, a non-invasive, self-neuromodulation adjunct digital therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A shortage of efficacy compared to placebo in a phase II study of treating cognitive impairment has put Aptinyx Inc. on the defensive. The company’s oral, small-molecule NMDA receptor modulator, NYX-458, was being studied in 99 patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia. Based on the results, Aptinyx has decided to stop the therapy’s development, along with closing its phase IIb study of another oral, small molecule, NYX-783, for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.