WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Naurex Inc. today announced that data presented at the Society for Neuroscience conference demonstrate that the company’s lead therapeutic candidate, GLYX-13, enhances synaptic plasticity and creates an antidepressant-like effect by modulating the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). The preclinical data were delivered in a presentation titled, “The antidepressant effects of GLYX-13 are mediated by medial prefrontal cortex-associated long term potentiation-like synaptic plasticity.”
The findings were based on a study conducted using a 21-day chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) rat model to evaluate the benefits of GLYX-13 and modulation of NMDAR. The results showed that treatment with GLYX-13 completely reversed the CUS-induced depressive state as well as the impairment of learning, memory and synaptic plasticity to levels seen in the control group. In addition, an analysis of mRNA expression in treated animals supports a link between GLYX-13 and synaptic plasticity.
“The results of this study support our hypothesis that the way GLYX-13 modulates the NMDAR presents a new and compelling mechanism by which synaptic plasticity can be improved,” said Joseph Moskal, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Naurex, director of the Falk Center for Molecular Therapeutics and distinguished research professor at Northwestern University. “The ability to modulate synaptic plasticity without deleterious side effects has potential for the treatment of not only depression, but also other CNS disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.”
This study augments the growing body of preclinical and clinical data that demonstrate GLYX-13’s antidepressant effect. Previously announced top-line results from a human Phase 2b repeat dose study of GLYX-13 showed that the drug was well-tolerated and that the rapid, robust and sustained antidepressant effects observed in an earlier single-dose study were achieved and maintained with repeat dosing in subjects with difficult-to-treat depression. The full results from the Phase 2b study will be presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, to be held December 7-11, 2014.
About Naurex Inc.
Naurex is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing transformative therapies for challenging disorders of the central nervous system. The company has built a platform for discovering drugs that enhance synaptic plasticity, or strengthen the network for neural cell communication. Molecules discovered by Naurex achieve this through a novel mechanism that modulates the NMDA receptor - rather than shutting it down - resulting in drugs that are both highly effective and well tolerated. Naurex’s lead molecule, GLYX-13, has demonstrated rapid, robust, and sustained efficacy in multiple Phase 2 clinical studies in depression, an area of high unmet need that has seen little innovation in decades. NRX-1074, a next-generation, orally bioavailable drug candidate, is in Phase 2 clinical development in depression. Naurex’s platform has yielded a rich pipeline of subtype-selective NMDA receptor modulators with the potential to treat a broad set of psychiatric and neurologic disorders.
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Ian Stone
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Naurex Inc.
Ashish Khanna
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corporate@naurex.com
847-871-0377
SOURCE Naurex Inc.
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