Depression increases the risk of untimely death for people of all ages.

Depression and anxiety are two of the most prevalent mental illnesses in the United States, with depression affecting approximately 22 million people and anxiety about 9 million. Together these illnesses affect 16 percent of the adult population annually, according to recent industry surveys. While recent pharmaceutical research has led to improved drugs such as Prozac® for the treatment of depression, these medications are limited in their use, primarily because of slow onset of therapeutic action (often greater than 10 days from the commencement of dosing), lack of efficacy in some patients, and side effects such as sexual dysfunction.

Anxiety and stress are conditions commonly associated with depression. A number of neuropeptide receptors that appear to be involved in stress responses, including receptors for corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF-1), exhibit altered characteristics in depressed patients.

Neurogen believes that an orally available drug candidate that blocks the CRF-1 receptor may be efficacious in relieving depression, anxiety and/or stress related disorders. A number of companies are seeking to develop CRF-1 drug candidates. To date, many companies have experienced difficulties in identifying CRF-1 blockers, which have drug properties appropriate for commercialization. Neurogen believes this is due to the fact that the scope of known chemical structures which block CRF-1 is relatively narrow.

We have discovered a number of compounds that block the CRF-1 target and have demonstrated efficacy in animal models of depression and stress. Importantly, the chemical structure of these compounds is significantly outside of the scope of previously known CRF-1 blockers. Our scientists believe these novel chemical templates may provide an avenue for avoiding many of the development issues of earlier CRF-1 structures investigated in the industry.

Development Status
Neurogen’s CRF program is currently evaluating several preclinical drug candidates to determine which compound will be advanced to human testing.

Neurogen owns all commercial rights to this program.