What is it about?
Neurolixis, Inc. announced the publication of scientific data demonstrating rapid and long-lasting antidepressant activity of the Company's 'biased agonist' drug candidate, NLX-101 in a robust rodent model of depression. The study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, showed that NLX-101 produced very rapid (i.e. within 1 day) and complete reversal of depressive-like behavior in rats subjected to chronic mild stress. Furthermore, the antidepressant-like activity of NLX-101 was maintained for several weeks after cessation of drug administration, suggesting a long-lasting remodeling of neuronal networks controlling some aspects of mood. NLX-101 also rescued cognitive function that had been impaired by chronic mild stress.
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Why is it important?
The experiments were conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Mariusz Papp (Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland), a leading researcher in the field of antidepressant drugs. Prof. Papp commented: "The chronic mild stress model is highly validated and predictive of human antidepressant efficacy. Our laboratory has tested many antidepressant drugs, including reuptake inhibitors and ketamine, using the same conditions as those we used for NLX-101. However, none of the other drugs exhibited such rapid effects as NLX-101."
Perspectives
Adrian Newman-Tancredi, PhD, DSc, Chief Scientific Officer of Neurolixis, commented: "We are excited about the remarkable activity of NLX-101 in this highly regarded model of depression. There is a great need for antidepressant drugs that are efficacious and well-tolerated. These striking results support our efforts to develop novel, rapid-acting, antidepressants based on the NLX-101 scaffold. If the rodent data translate to the clinic, these biased agonist compounds could significantly alleviate depression symptoms and other mood deficits, thus improving many patients' quality of life."
Dr Adrian Newman-Tancredi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cortical 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptor biased agonist, NLX-101, displays rapid-acting antidepressant-like properties in the rat chronic mild stress model, Journal of Psychopharmacology, July 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0269881119860666.
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