Despite the title of the Sunday, June 4 lead-off presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, there was little room left for doubt about the increasingly important place of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development. The program, Artificial Intelligence for Drug Development: Fad or Future, ultimately pointed to a positive future, with the only faddish part being discarded approaches that no longer work. Read More
Psychedelic drugs could have two distinct overlapping effects based on their affinity for two receptors involved in neuronal plasticity. Scientists at the University of Helsinki have observed that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocin (a drug isolated from the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana) have an antidepressant effect that is independent of their hallucinogenic outcome. These two different pathways are established through their binding to the tyrosine kinase receptor (TrkB), which has an antidepressant nature, or to the serotonin receptor, with a hallucinogenic activity. Read More
Liminal Biosciences Inc. has nominated a lead preclinical candidate, LMNL-6326, from its oxoeicosanoid receptor 1 (OXER1) antagonist program, targeting the treatment of eosinophil-driven diseases such as eosinophilic asthma and atopic dermatitis. Read More
Researchers from Xinhua Hospital have published data from a study that aimed to assess the role of CEBPG, an important regulator of tumor development, in the progression of ovarian cancer (OC). Read More
Terminal nucleotidyltransferase 4B (TENT4B; PAPD5) inhibitors have been described in a Childrens Medical Center Corp. patent. As such, they are reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, osteoarthritis, macular degeneration, hepatitis B, pulmonary fibrosis, diabetes, pontocerebellar hypoplasia and cardiovascular disorders, among others. Read More
The University of Oxford and Selvita SA have established an integrated drug discovery collaboration in the area of Parkinson’s disease. Based on evidence implicating α-synuclein aggregates as the cause of Parkinson’s, the approach looks at the inability of cells to efficiently clear these aggregates, which may lead to the death of neurons and the emergence of characteristic symptoms of the disease. Promoting the ability of nerve cells to rid themselves of these aggregates therefore offers a possible therapeutic strategy for Parkinson’s disease. Read More
Research at Umecrine AB has led to the identification of a 3α-substituted 3β-hydroxy 17-oximated androstane compound acting as a GABA-A receptor antagonist. Read More
Suzhou Spring-Sea Bio-Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has prepared and tested prodrugs of N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC) that are reported to be useful for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19). Read More
Researchers from Seelos Therapeutics Inc. presented the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a gene therapy candidate, SLS-009, for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (HD). Read More
Shanghai Haiyan Pharmaceutical Technology Co. Ltd. and Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group have jointly developed S-adenosylmethionine synthase isoform type-2 (Mat2A) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
