China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted Luye Pharma Group Ltd.’s NDA for rotigotine (LY-03003) extended-release microspheres and granted it priority review for treating Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers from Oregon Health and Science University presented data from a study that aimed to identify and validate potential new therapeutic targets for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Systems immunology analysis utilizing mass cytometry (CyTOF) was used to assess α5 integrin expression in 78,293 single cells, including 21,250 CD45+/CD11b+ myeloid cells from CNS of superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD) G93A mouse model of ALS (SOD1G93A).
Wall Street cheered Vistagen Therapeutics Inc.’s first positive phase III trial with a drug for social anxiety disorder (SAD) in 15 years and sent the South San Francisco-based firm’s shares (NASDAQ:VTGN) on a rocket ride to close Aug. 7 at $13.05, up $11.37, or 677%. Vistagen unveiled top-line data from the phase III study called Palisade-2 testing the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of lead asset fasedienol (PH-94B) nasal spray in adults with SAD.
Despite the U.S. FDA’s approval of Sage Therapeutics Inc.’s priority NDA for postpartum depression, the accompanying complete response letter (CRL) for major depressive disorder has undercut the company’s plans. Withholding the approval for MDD slices away a huge amount of the potential market for Sage and its collaborator, Biogen Inc.
Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has divulged nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NFE2-related factor 2; NRF2) activators reported to be useful for the treatment of neurodegenerative, pulmonary and renal diseases.
In game-changing news for parents of children with cerebral palsy, researchers demonstrated significant clinical improvement in the sensorimotor function of children who underwent sessions using Spinex Inc.’s Spinal Cord Innovation in Pediatrics (Scip) therapy. With current treatment options limited to physical therapy, medication and/or surgery, Parag Gad, co-founder and CEO of Spinex, told BioWorld he believes that Scip therapy “can be the new standard of care” for children with cerebral palsy.
With more drugs for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) gaining FDA approval and an aging population at increased risk of dementia, the need for AD diagnostics is only going to grow. An estimated 6.7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s today, with that number projected to hit 14 million by 2060, according to the CDC.
A research team from Leipzig University, the Max Planck Institute and Heidelberg University, all in Germany, devised a new segmentation algorithm for stroke lesions that improves upon previous methods. They used machine-learning models to effect CT image segmentation in the early stages of acute stroke. The research team published their findings on the fully convolutional graph network in July in the Journal of Medical Imaging.
Biohaven Therapeutics Ltd. has patented new pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridin-2,3-yl amides acting as potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily KQT member 2/3 (KCNQ2/3) activators.
Satellos Bioscience Inc. has received orphan drug designation and rare pediatric disease designation from the FDA for SAT-3153 for the potential treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The first-in-class oral small-molecule therapeutic is designed to restore the innate muscle regeneration process independent of dystrophin and regardless of exon mutation status.