NLX-101, the first-in-class 'biased agonist' drug candidate, showed very rapid and long-lasting antidepressant activity in a robust rodent model of depression. The study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, showed that NLX-101 produced complete reversal of depressive-like behavior in rats subjected to chronic mild stress within 1 day. Furthermore, the antidepressant-like activity of NLX-101 was maintained for several weeks after cessation of drug administration, suggesting a long-lasting remodeling of neuronal networks controlling some aspects of mood. NLX-101 also rescued cognitive function that had been impaired by  chronic mild stress.

The experiments were conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Mariusz Papp (Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland), a leading researcher in the field of antidepressant drugs. Prof. Papp commented: "The chronic mild stress model is highly validated and predictive of human antidepressant efficacy. Our laboratory has tested many antidepressant drugs, including reuptake inhibitors and ketamine, using the same conditions as those we used for NLX-101. However, none of the other drugs exhibited such rapid effects as NLX-101."

Cortical 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptor biased agonist, NLX-101, displays rapid-acting antidepressant-like properties in the rat chronic mild stress model.
Depoortère R, Papp M, Gruca P, Lason-Tyburkiewicz M, Niemczyk M, Varney MA, Newman-Tancredi A.
J Psychopharmacology. 2019. doi: 10.1177/0269881119860666. PMID:  31290370

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