Researchers from the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and their collaborators have identified adenosine as the driving force behind the rapid, fast-acting antidepressant effects of ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). “Our journey into this area of research began over a decade ago, around 2013, when the clinical world was buzzing with excitement about ketamine's remarkably rapid antidepressant effects,” Minmin Luo, co-senior author of the study, told BioWorld.
At the recent AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, researchers from Aurigene Oncology Ltd. presented the discovery and clinical characterization of novel macrocyclic KIF18A inhibitors.
Numab Therapeutics AG and Kaken Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have entered into a strategic licensing and co-development agreement for NM-81, a multi-specific antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Researchers from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Marengo Therapeutics Inc. previously developed a first-in-class, bifunctional therapeutic molecule (STAR-0602) that selectively activates V β6 and V β10 T-cell receptor-expressing T cells and boosts antitumor responses in human ex vivo tumor models.
In an effort to generate an effective and safer inhibitor, researchers at the University of Cape Town, University of Dundee and Massachusetts Institute of Technology used structure-guided rational design to improve on their previously reported 2,8-diaryl-1,5-naphthyridine inhibitor.
Century Therapeutics Inc. has announced its first program for type 1 diabetes, CNTY-813. The program comprises induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived β islets engineered with the company’s proprietary Allo-Evasion 5.0 technology, designed to protect from T-cell, NK-cell and humoral immune rejection, with the goal of durable glycemic control without the need for systemic immunosuppression.
Hutchmed (China) Ltd. has developed HMPL-A251, a novel HER2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) designed to deliver a potent PI3K/PIKK inhibitor directly to tumor cells.
Melanocortin-4-receptor MC4R is a crucial molecule involved in energy homeostasis, feeding behavior and metabolism, and loss-of-function mutations in this gene are the main monogenic cause of early-onset obesity. Congruence Therapeutics Inc. has developed a small molecule, CGX-926, that corrected MC4R deficiency and restored its cell-surface expression and function.
Suzhou Junjian Yifang Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has described pyrimido[6,1-a]isoquinolin-4-one derivatives acting as dual phosphodiesterase PDE3 and PDE4 inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.