This week we’re in Castres in the South of France to visit Neurolixis. This biotech is taking on diseases of the CNS, such as Parkinson’s, depression and schizophrenia.
Mission: Neurolixis is tackling CNS and mood diseases, a number of which lack effective treatment options at the moment. The biotech currently has two candidate drugs undergoing clinical trials.
NLX-101 targets Rett syndrome, a devastating disorder affecting brain development. The drug is undergoing a Phase I trial to assess its capacity to relieve a particularly troublesome side effect, breathing difficulties. Another condition that the company is actively targeting is Parkinson’s. NLX-112 activates 5-HT1A serotonin receptors to alleviate dyskinesia. This side effect is associated with L-DOPA, the most effective treatment on the market. NLX-112 is currently undergoing a Phase II trial.
Comment: The company is taking on two particularly distressing diseases affecting people at opposite ends of their lives. Rett syndrome leaves young children, almost exclusively girls, with developmental defects. Breathing issues may accentuate these defects, so alleviating it could help to reduce the severity of damage. Parkinson’s tends to affect the elderly, and Neurolixis hopes to control the dyskinesia, a painful side effect that can make day-to-day life a challenging prospect for sufferers.
Neurolixis joins a busy field, with companies such as Newron and Prexton Therapeutics looking at new approaches to diseases of the CNS.
Images – Claudio Giovanni Colombo / shutterstock.com