Inside This Issue: Anxiety Disorders
Top News Alerts: Product Updates, Deals & Financings
Conference Highlights: European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS
Company Spotlight: Protagenic Therapies
Subscribe now to access over 50 articles covering developments in drugs, devices and diagnostics for the brain and nervous system.
Market Highlights: Merck Drops Newron Program, Biotie Backs out of Acquisition
Newron (SIX: NWRN) was set afloat after Merck Serono abruptly dropped their partnership to develop safinamide for Parkinson’s citing “more limited market potential than originally anticipated.” The news triggered Biotie to reassess, and eventually drop, its offer to acquire the company for €45 million. Newron stock dropped more than 30% for the month. Merck Serono insisted that the decision was “not based on any new efficacy or safety findings with safinamide.” While safinamide has shown consistent efficacy in improving motor symptoms of PD, it failed to meet significance on dyskinesia endpoints...
New Anxiety Treatments on the Horizon
Unlike fear, where there is a recognized external threat, anxiety is defined as an unfocused and unpleasant emotional response accompanied by similar physiological and behavioral changes. Anxiety disorders are conditions where the anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations. The causes of anxiety disorders are not fully understood, but most researchers agree that there are physiological and psychological factors involved. Psychologically anxiety is viewed as a reaction to external stressors, physiologically it appears the GABA signaling plays an important although not exclusive role. Signs and symptoms identical to those of primary anxiety disorders can also be caused by hyperthyroidism, excessive cortisol levels or cocaine and other drug abuse. This article outlines current treatments and treatments in development for anxiety disorders...
Protagenic: Harnessing Stress Reduction Peptides
Protagenic Therapeutics is a virtual company spun out of the University of Toronto in 2004. NeuroInsights spoke with David Lovejoy, CSO, who developed the peptides that underlie Protagenic's compounds. "I always had an interest in the evolutionary history of peptide development," he says, "Peptide hormones regulate cell physiology and they are highly specific. In 2002, I discovered a new family of four peptides that are related to the CRH (corticotropin releasing hormone) family. They played a role in stress but to my surprise, they actually decreased the stress response. They acted in ways opposite to CRH...
Companies Covered In This Issue Include: Sangamo, NuPathe, Transcept, Forest Labs, Gedeon Richter, Pfizer, Roche, Genentech, Sanofi, Genxyme, Abbott, Biogen Idec, Takeda, DepoMed, Targacept, Diagenic, Auris, Bionic Vision Australia, Teva, Eli Lilly, Oxford Biomedica, Cochlear Ltd., Lundbeck, Jan Medical, Elan, NeuralStem, Titan Pharmaceuticals, Avanir, Apnex, Servier, Cortex, ImThera Medical, Incline Therapeutics, Autonomic Technologies, ExonHit, Functional Neuromodulation, Great Lakes Neurotechnologies, Sage Therapeutics, SPR Therapeutics, Par Pharmacuetical, WL Gore, NMT Medical, Arteaus, Sonexa, Impel NeuroPharma, SK LifeSciences, Medicilon, Athersys, Imagen Biotech, Remedy Pharmaceuticals, Cubist, Adolor, CR Bard, Medivance, Axogen, Physiosonics, Pfizer, Icagen, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, WayPoint Health, MediciNova, Neurocrine, Bristol-Myers, Fabre-Kramer, Addex, Biotie, Pherin Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Abiogen, AviNeuro
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