Release Therapeutics SA has announced that it has secured CHF3.3 million (US$3.87 million) in seed funding. The proceeds will be used to finance primate studies of the company’s cell macroencapsulation technology for use in metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD).

Investigators at the University of Edinburgh have identified a genomic location linked to sensitivity to gabapentin in individuals with idiopathic chronic pelvic pain.

Montara Therapeutics Inc. has received $8 million seed financing from several investors to further its development of its ’binary pharmacology’ for diseases of the brain.

Alkira Bio, a new spinout from Australia’s Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health has emerged from stealth mode thanks to seed funding from Curie.bio. Although the amount of funding is not disclosed, Curie.bio typically invests $5 million to $10 million in a founder company and then co-pilots the drug discovery program, deploying drug development experts to its portfolio companies to help navigate decision making as part of the deal, Florey researcher turned Alkira Bio CEO Daniel Scott told BioWorld.

DeepSA, an edit-based generative framework that utilizes deep simulated annealing (SA), was used to develop novel local anesthetics with multiple activities. Researchers from Sichuan University applied DeepSA to generate over 400 analogs of the local anesthetic articaine.

Researchers from Universite de Sherbrooke and University of California San Francisco presented the discovery and preclinical characterization of CCR2-targeting pepducin, PP-101.

Researchers from Qingdao University and affiliated organizations announced data from a preclinical study using the phosphodiesterase 7 (PDE7) inhibitor BRL-50481 to assess the involvement of PDE7 in the stress-induced behavioral and neuron morphological changes.