Vanqua Bio Inc. announced that its development candidate VQ-101, a best-in-class brain-penetrant small-molecule allosteric activator of glucocerebrosidase (GCase), will enter clinical development in the first quarter of next year, with an initial indication in Parkinson’s disease.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved Zhejiang Jingxin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s dimdazenil (EVT-201) for short-term treatment of insomnia. Jingxin filed the NDA in China in April 2022.
Patent applications from Bellevue, Wash.-based Aiberry Inc. describe further aspects of its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered mental health screening platform that is designed to improve efficiency and save time for healthcare providers.
Celros Biotech Co. Ltd. has described cytochrome b-245 heavy chain (CYBB; NOX2) and NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of neuroinflammatory disorders.
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC has identified receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1; RIP-1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and inflammatory disorders.
University of Oxford scientists have presented data from deep proteomics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in search of proteins with diagnostic or prognostic value in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Analysis was performed using CSF samples from 40 ALS patients, 15 controls (healthy individuals) and 8 mimicking conditions.
Researchers from Autifony Therapeutics Ltd. presented preclinical data for the novel potent Kv3 channel positive modulator, AUT-00201, which is currently being evaluated in early clinical studies for the treatment of patients with progressive myoclonus epilepsy type 7 (EPM7).
Microtubule acetylation and impaired axonal transport have been proposed as mechanisms causing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Furthermore, histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is known to play a role in acetylation of α-tubulin, a subunit of microtubules. ACY-738 is an HDAC6 inhibitor that has been reported to slow neuron degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease and ALS models by increasing acetylation of α-tubulin.
Psychiatric indications, such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, share a common feature of elevated expression of pro-inflammatory markers in the periphery and/or central nervous system. Based on this, it is believed that combined immuno- and neuromodulatory activities of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitors may represent a promising new therapeutic strategy for various psychiatric indications.
RSS
