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Published on February 15, 2024
As the crushing burden of opioid addiction grows, companies such as Latigo Biotherapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals are working to develop new, safer, and more effective non-opioid painkillers. It’s a huge unmet need and an opportunity. Non-addictive pain drugs represent a growing market that is expected to be worth over $30B…
Published on September 6, 2023
Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center seeking to improve hospital care pathways, say that a newly designed recovery program reduced opioid use after pancreatic cancer surgery. The researchers noted in their study, published today in the journal JAMA Surgery, that this approach has the potential to…
Published on August 7, 2023
Vertex has announced preclinical data and the results from its Phase II proof-of-concept trials evaluating treatment with the selective, oral NaV1.8 inhibitor VX-548 for acute pain following abdominoplasty and bunionectomy surgeries. VX-548 is a non-opioid pain reliever. These results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). “VX-548 preclinical studies demonstrated high selectivity and…
Published on March 3, 2023
Confo Therapeutics, which specializes in targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), has announced a worldwide licensing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company for Confo’s non-opiod, pain candidate, CFTX-1554 and back-up compounds. “We are pleased that Lilly, an expert in chronic pain with a wealth of experience in bringing novel therapies to…
Published on August 3, 2022
Eighteen new genetic risk factors for opioid use disorder (OUD) and related substance use disorders have been found though a large-scale genome-wide association study. Previously, there was only one gene linked so far to these conditions. The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, were made by a team of Yale scientists. “Our…
Published on June 11, 2018
Bentley University and Gravity Diagnostics said today they will partner on research intended to help doctors assess the likelihood of a patient becoming addicted to a prescription pain drug—and the likelihood of an already-addicted patient responding to a given treatment. Bentley University and Gravity Diagnostics said their three-year research partnership…
Published on August 30, 2017
A genetic test developed by Prescient Medicine can predict individual risk of opioid addiction, the company said, based on studies by the company and a collaboration partner whose results were disclosed today. In one study, Sherman Chang, Ph.D., vp of research and development at the company’s collaboration partner AutoGenomics, and…
Published on June 10, 2024
Clinical trials are where most drugs go to die, but they don’t need to stay gathering dust on the shelves for an eternity or ultimately disintegrate. Derisking is always important in drug development, especially when dealing with the central nervous system (CNS), which has experienced lower success rates historically and,…
Published on June 5, 2024
A report published in 2023, estimates that over 40% of adults in the U.S. have obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of over 30 kg/m2. While not everyone in this group is unwell, there is no doubt that obesity increases the risk of associated health conditions such as…
Published on January 22, 2024
The offspring of pregnant women with opioid addiction are less likely to have developmental malformations at birth if exposed to buprenorphine compared with methadone. Led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, the study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine. It showed that the risk for various congenital…
Published on December 7, 2023
AbbVie is acquiring Cerevel Therapeutics and its neuroscience portfolio of multiple clinical-stage and preclinical candidates for $8.7B. Cerevel’s pipeline addresses diseases including schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and mood disorders. Its lead candidates are emraclidine for schizophrenia (Phase II) and psychosis (Phase I), and tavapadon in Phase III for PD. AbbVie…
Published on November 17, 2023
A wireless, ingestible device that measures vital signs from the gastrointestinal tract could prove useful for diagnosing and monitoring a variety of conditions affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. The pill represents the first time it has been possible to monitor these physiological measures from the human stomach using a…
Published on October 6, 2023
In work that could lead to a non-addictive alternative to opioids, scientists used chemogenetics to quiet hyperactive neurons that cause chronic pain in both mouse and cultured human neurons. Using a viral vector, they delivered PSAM4-GlyR—a fully humanized protein that consists of a chloride channel that can be activated by varenicline,…
Published on May 3, 2023
Researchers from the Center for Clinical Pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine say they have identified a new target for addiction-free pain treatment—alternate binding sites on the kappa opioid receptor. According to the WashU investigators, scientists who are developing drugs that only target the kappa receptor to alleviate pain,…
Published on March 31, 2023
Confo Therapeutics, a leader in targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), this week announced an agreement with Daiichi Sankyo for the discovery and development of small molecule agonists against an undisclosed CNS target. Confo will receive upfront and milestone payments totaling $183 million and tiered royalties on sales from any resulting…