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.

With a waiting list of some 90,000 people, startup company Charco Neurotech Ltd. is seeing growing demand for its Cue1 device which has shown to reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in patients suffering from the condition. The Cue1 is a non-invasive device that can literally change the day-to-day lives of people living with Parkinson's, Lucy Jung, CEO and co-founder of Charco, told BioWorld.

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.

The latest patent application from Neuroderm Ltd. described a magnetic coupling and detection mechanism for its small two-part wearable infusion drug delivery device that delivers a liquid drug to Parkinson’s disease patients subcutaneously.

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.