TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IATI-BIOMED 2016 announced today that NeuroRx won IATI-BIOMED’s startup completion and was chosen out of dozens of applicants as the most innovative life science company. The prize was awarded to Dr. Jonathan Javitt, Founder and CEO of NeuroRx, by Ruti Alon, IATI-Biomed Co-Chairperson and General Partner, Pitango Venture Capital, at the closing session of the conference.
NeuroRx, Inc. has successfully completed a Phase 2 for a newly-purposed class of drugs that have shown rapid efficacy in reducing symptoms of depression and risk of suicide. The drug named Cuclurad targets the brain’s NMDA receptor rather than the traditional serotonin pathway. It includes initial use of Ketamine, followed by D-cycloserine in combination with one of three FDA-approved mood stabilizers and achieves reduction of symptoms within two hours of treatment and maintains that clinical benefit over 8 weeks. The Company is expected to receive FDA approval under a fast track, following completion of clinical trials expected by the end of 2017.
Dr. Jonathan Javitt, Founder and CEO of NeuroRx said “When someone dies from cancer, we blain the disease and look for a cure. Even though suicide is driven by chemical pathways in the brain, when people die of this disease, we tend to blain the patient. Our mission is to develop a first-in-class life saving drug for an unmet medical need, specifically suicide and depression. Suicidality has long been viewed as an end stage of depression, when in fact it’s a distinct medical entity that appears to be driven by different brain pathways than those that drive depression. Every anti depressive drug on the market today is known to increase the risk for suicide even though it decreases symptoms of depression. Our drug targets a different chemical receptor in the brain first characterized by Prof. Daniel Javitt, who has spent his career understanding the role of the brain’s NMDA’s receptor in psychiatric illness. We now have exciting Phase 2 human data, both form Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem and from Columbia University in NY showing the potential of NMDA antagonist to be of enormous benefits for patients with depression and suicidality.”
The panel of judges of the startup competition included: Dr. Ora Dar, Head of the Life Sciences Sector, Israel Innovation Authority, Ministry of Economy; David Goren, VP, Digital Health Innovation; Dr. Irit Yaniv, General Partner, Accelmed; Dr. Michael Tal, Founder and Managing Partner Access Medical Ventures; Dr. Einat Zisman, Chief Executive Officer, FutuRx and Georgette Pascale Founder & CEO, Pascale Communications.
About Bipolar Depression
More than 3 million Americans have
Bipolar Depression, sometimes known as manic depression. Those with
bipolar depression are more than twice as likely to commit suicide
compared with patients who have other forms of depression. There are
more than 1 million suicide attempts each year and between 25% and 50%
will attempt suicide at some point. Overall, patients with treatment
resistant depression cost the healthcare system more than $120 billion
annually.
About IATI-Biomed
For the 15th consecutive year, IATI-Biomed
is the largest and leading meeting place for healthcare professionals
from Israel with international colleagues and partners. As such, this
world-class event presents an opportunity for global participants to
experience Israel’s life science innovation and vibrant biomedical
industry at its best. Previous successful conferences hosted over 6,000
industry players, scientists and engineers including more than 1,000
attendees from over 45 countries that participated in over 4,500
one-on-one meetings. Hundreds of Israeli life science companies will
present and exhibit their products, services and technologies allowing
for hands-on experience. For additional information, please visit our
website at: http://kenes-exhibitions.com/biomed2016/
