PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. has initiated a new program to study N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists and associated analogs for potential activity against a variety of human health conditions.
The company said it has filed a new provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office entitled NMDA Receptor Antagonist-Containing Compositions and Methods of Treatment. The addition of NMDA receptor antagonists with pending patent protection is highly focused on the potential improvement of neurological conditions including traumatic brain injury, other neurological deficits, addiction as well as other psychological conditions.
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NMDA receptor antagonists play an important role in the health and function of neurons and have been implicated by a number of studies to be strongly involved with exitotoxicity and also associated with promoting synaptic plasticity. Research also indicates that some NMDA receptor antagonists also interact with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors leading to the release of neurotransmitters. Many compounds in this class have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as anesthetics and are under evaluation for other indications within the brain.
The scientific discovery, clinical pharmacology and drug development team at PsyBio has identified NMDA receptor antagonists and their analogues for their role in promoting neuroplasticity as potential therapeutic targets for a wide variety of disease indications. PsyBio said it continues utilizing its resources to rapidly develop and test new drug candidates in anticipation of launching future clinical trials.
"PsyBio is distinctively positioned as one of the leading biotechnology companies sponsoring commercial development of new therapeutic targets for myriad human health conditions," said Evan Levine, PsyBio's chief executive officer in a statement.
"The Company is actively screening drug candidates across a variety of medical indications and will utilize its regulatory experience to submit proposals for human clinical trials based upon those preclinical studies to the FDA and other regulatory bodies. The Company retains expertise across a wide range of pharmaceutical discovery and development including synthetic biology, molecular engineering, neurobiopsychology, translational medicine and clinical pharmacology and is leveraging this ability to work towards shepperding new therapeutics to treat unmet medical needs," he added.
"PsyBio has unique expertise in clinical pharmacology and is actively expanding its portfolio of drug candidates and remains particularly interested in advancing therapeutic understanding and potential treatment of neurologic and psychologic conditions," noted Dr Michael Spigarelli, PsyBio's chief medical officer. "The advantages of utilizing compounds, exhibiting previously known neurological or psychological effect, to harness the opportunity to develop potential therapeutics more rapidly than previously conceived."
The company's intellectual property portfolio now includes six pending provisionals and one pending non-provisional patent application.
PsyBio Therapeutics is an intellectual property-driven biotechnology company developing novel formulations of psychoactive medications for the potential treatment of neurologic and psychologic conditions. The team has extensive experience in drug discovery based on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering as well as clinical and regulatory expertise progressing drugs through human studies and regulatory protocols.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com