CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cadent Therapeutics, a company focused on the development of therapies to improve the lives of patients with movement and cognitive disorders, today announced the receipt of the second milestone payment from Novartis following the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical study of MIJ821, a subtype selective NMDA receptor negative allosteric modulator (NAM), in development for treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
"We are excited to announce that Novartis has advanced MIJ821 to the next stage of clinical development,” said Jodie Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of Cadent Therapeutics. “MIJ821 is a selective and potent NMDA receptor modulator that we believe will take both an important and differentiated position in the treatment of treatment resistant depression by building on the validated mechanism of NMDAr modulation."
Cadent Therapeutics exclusively licensed the intellectual property for compounds that selectively modulate NR2B-containing NMDA receptors to Novartis. This license included MIJ821 (CAD-9271). Novartis is conducting all research and development for the program.
About Cadent Therapeutics
Cadent Therapeutics is creating therapies for the treatment of movement disorders and cognitive impairment. The company combines target specificity, patient selection, drug design and optimization, and novel quantitative endpoints to create first-in-class molecules to treat movement and cognitive disorders. Cadent Therapeutics is rapidly advancing its pipeline of positive allosteric modulators to treat spinocerebellar ataxia, essential tremor and schizophrenia. The company has an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Novartis to develop a negative allosteric modulator, now in Phase 1 clinical studies for the treatment of treatment resistant depression. Investors include Atlas Venture, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Qiming Venture Partners, Access Industries, Clal Biotechnology Industries, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and Slater Technology Fund. For more information, please visit cadenttx.com.