Scientists at the University of Chicago have discovered a signaling pathway guided by nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) that could relieve pain even when tolerance to opioids was present. This mechanism did not produce dependence after treatment and could be explored to develop new drugs.

A consortium led by Addex Therapeutics Ltd. has been awarded a €4 million (US$4.3 million) Eurostars grant to support its metabotropic glutamate mGlu2 receptor negative allosteric modulator (NAM) program for mild neurocognitive disorder.

Orionis Biosciences BV has established a multiyear collaboration with Genentech Inc., a member of the Roche Group, to discover novel small-molecule molecular glues for targets in major disease areas, including oncology and neurodegeneration.

Benevolentai Ltd. has signed a strategic collaboration with Merck KGaA to identify novel drug candidates, initially for three targets in oncology, neurology and immunology.

Long bones, vertebrae and skull bones have distinct types of stem cells, and new insights into those stem cells could lead to new ways to treat both rare developmental disorders of skull formation and the all-too-common phenomenon of bone metastases. Scientifically, the work, which was published in two papers by Matthew Greenblatt and colleagues in Nature, adds to the increasing understanding of bone’s complexities. “Bone may serve as an endocrine organ that is secreting factors throughout the body,” Greenblatt said.

Atamyo Therapeutics SAS has filed a clinical trial application (CTA) in Europe for ATA-200, its gene therapy targeting γ-sarcoglycan (SGCG)-related limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2C/R5 (LGMD-R5).

Irisin is a myokine derived from fibronectin type III domain containing 5 (FNDC5) released into the circulation during physical exercise. It is known that FNDC5/irisin stimulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the hippocampus and also that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) models and brains and cerebrospinal fluid of AD patients have low levels of irisin.