Why U.S. FDA-approved Wakix (pitolisant) has worked to treat excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in narcolepsy but not in idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) patients is the question that lies before Harmony Biosciences Holdings Inc., and one that the U.S. FDA will take up at a future sit-down.
At the ECNP meeting this week in Barcelona, researchers from Cerevance Inc. presented preclinical data for the selective orexin OX1 receptor (OX1R) antagonist CVN-766, following evaluation in models of schizophrenia. The potency and selectivity of CVN-766 were assessed in recombinant cells overexpressing either human or mouse OXR1 or OXR2.
In a race with Karuna Therapeutics Inc. to get its schizophrenia drug to market, Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc. has priced an underwritten public offering at $22.81 per share. The offering is worth of about $450 million, with the company estimating sales of the 19.7 million shares will yield net proceeds of about $433.6 million.
An Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc. patent describes new 5-HT2A, μ-opioid, and dopamine D1 and D2 receptor ligands reported to be useful for the treatment of neurological disorders.
Stem Pharm Inc. and Verge Genomics (Verge Analytics Inc.) have established a collaboration to develop a disease model to validate novel targets identified by Verge for Parkinson’s disease.
It has been previously demonstrated that therapeutic inhibition of the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-degrading enzyme, 15-prostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH), was able to improve muscle strength in aged mice. Researchers from Epirium Bio Inc. have now reported the discovery and preclinical characterization an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor 15-PGDH – MF-300 – being developed for the treatment of neuromuscular dysfunction.
University of California Oakland and University of Copenhagen scientists have jointly developed calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II subunit α (CaMK2A) modulators reported to be useful for the treatment of brain injury, narcolepsy, Angelman syndrome, Down syndrome and stroke.
Sosei Group Corp. and Pharmenable Therapeutics Ltd. have expanded their collaboration to apply their respective technologies to drive novel drug discovery for a second neurological disease target.
Curasen Therapeutics Inc. has received a strategic investment of up to $5.8 million from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to advance CST-3056, an α1A-adrenoceptor (α1A-AR) agonist for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.