Pluri Inc. has signed an agreement assigning the joint patent rights to develop its PLX cells for the treatment of cocaine addiction to BIRAD-Research & Development Company Ltd., the commercial arm of Bar-Ilan University.

Delix Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a $320,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, to support the advancement of DLX-007.

Organophosphorus compounds (OPs) include several types of chemical compounds used as pesticides, herbicides or nerve agents in chemical warfare that, once in the body, act by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase (AChE) functions leading to an excessive increase of acetylcholine that ultimately causes death after respiratory failure.

Researchers from Inventage Lab Inc. have presented preclinical data for its naltrexone-loaded microspheres, named IVL-3004, developed as long-acting injectable using the proprietary IVL-Drugfluidic technology platform.

The preBötzinger complex (preBötC) appears to play a relevant role in opiate-induced respiratory depression, as suggested by studies in animal models. However, limited research concerning preBötC physiology in humans has been conducted, and no human in vitro models of the preBötC exist.

Phoenix Pharmalabs Inc. has reported findings from in vivo studies that demonstrated that the company’s lead compound, PPL-138, reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and decreased alcohol consumption in a rat model of PTSD/alcohol use disorder (AUD). The studies were conducted at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Florida Atlantic University under a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.