Tonix Pharmaceuticals Expands Preclinical Pipeline

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding (NASDAQ:TNXP) has announced an exclusive agreement to in-license a triple reuptake inhibitor, TNX-1600, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as other central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

As quoted in the press release:

The compound was developed and pharmacologically characterized by Aloke Dutta, Ph.D., professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Wayne State University, with funding from a National Institutes of Health grant (grant number MH084888), and the patents covering the compounds were licensed to TRImaran Pharma, Inc. (TRImaran). The transaction announced today is a license agreement with Wayne State and an asset acquisition with TRImaran.

“We are excited to expand our pipeline and are looking forward to developing TNX-1600 as a potential treatment for PTSD,” said Seth Lederman, M.D., Tonix’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We plan to utilize our clinical experience in PTSD to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of TNX-1600. PTSD is a heterogeneous condition, so we believe different PTSD patients may respond to different medicines. In some cases, more than one drug will be required for effective treatment. TNX-1600 is our third drug candidate in development for PTSD. Our most advanced candidate is TNX-102 SL, which is in Phase 3 development. We are also developing TNX-601 which is entering a Phase 1 trial imminently. TNX-1600 is in the pre-IND phase of development with encouraging data from animal models of PTSD.”

Frank Bymaster, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of TRImaran Pharma Inc. said, “TNX-1600 is a novel TRI that inhibits simultaneously the reuptake of three key neurotransmitters: serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. Each of these three neurotransmitters plays a key modulatory role in many CNS processes. Inhibiting reuptake of all three may provide an effective treatment for PTSD.”

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