At the ongoing European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy meeting in Rome, Aviadobio Ltd. presented preclinical data for a novel ATXN2-targeting miRNA-containing vector, AVB-205, developed based on previous research that has shown the potential of ATXN2 silencing as a promising therapeutic strategy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and tau-negative frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Targeting NMDA in mental health has chalked wins but not universally, as shown by Sage Therapeutics Inc.’s failure of the placebo-controlled phase II Lightwave study testing dalzanemdor in Alzheimer's disease, which missed the primary outcome measure, another bit of bad luck from the company that was disclosed Oct. 8.

Cureverse Inc. and Angelini Pharma SpA signed a potential $360 million deal for CV-01, an oral small-molecule candidate for Alzheimer’s disease and neurological disorders like epilepsy. As a novel candidate, CV-01 suppresses neuroinflammatory reactions through the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor signaling pathway.

Seaport Therapeutics Inc. has followed up its recent fundraiser with an oversubscribed $225 million series B financing that will help set it on the path to a phase IIb study in major depressive disorder. The company’s lead candidate is allopregnanolone, an endogenous neurosteroid that is taken orally and bypasses the liver. Once it is absorbed through the lymphatic system, allopregnanolone enters through a pathway that avoids the liver and the possibility of hepatoxicity and elevated liver enzyme counts, Michael Chen, Seaport’s chief scientific officer, told BioWorld.

In what represents the first patenting from Cerathrive Ltd., its co-founder and CEO, Sarah Turner, describes their development of the Cera system, which they claim to be the first and only U.S. FDA-cleared red-light device that targets the gut-brain axis to improve focus and energy levels.

Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) is a glutamate scavenger that has been proposed to be used to counteract the excitotoxicity secondary to stroke or traumatic brain injury, among other pathologies. Furthermore, recent research suggests that mitochondrial GOT protects against energy failure after ischemia.

Spastic paraplegia type 47 (SPG47) is a rare congenital and neurological disorder characterized by dysfunction of the long axons in the corticospinal tract neurons that lead to progressive limb weakness and spasticity.

Seaport Therapeutics Inc. has closed an oversubscribed $225 million series B financing round to support its work developing novel neuropsychiatric medicines.

Researchers from Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA published new clinical data for CHF-6467, a recombinant modified form of human nerve growth factor (NGF), being evaluated for the treatment of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).