drug development, neuroscience

Patients who received the drug fared better cognitively and functionally than those taking placebo, but still experienced losses in performance.

A study has sparked controversy by suggesting that cells made using a popular lab protocol have been misidentified, with potentially serious repercussions for brain research. Critics say the significance of the findings has been overstated.

The review of more than two dozen studies finds aripiprazole has side effects and does not change core autism features, but parents report improvements in self-injury, tantrums, and other challenging behaviors.

After six months, patients with fast-progressing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who had received the experimental treatment had less loss of function than those who received a placebo.

A look at some of the circulating molecules that may indicate various Alzheimer’s pathologies and serve as the bases of noninvasive tests for the disease.

Researchers hope circulating biomarkers will enable earlier detection and better monitoring of the neurodegenerative disorder—and perhaps help usher in new treatments.

This is the first time researchers have tested the use of the reprogrammed stem cells in the human brain.

Epidiolex, a cannabis-derived medicine for epilepsy, will prompt federal regulatory changes that could crack open access to study the plant.

The race to develop analgesic drugs that inhibit sodium channel Na_V1.7 is revealing a complex sensory role for the protein.

Researchers are beginning to tease apart the mechanisms underlying differences in how males and females respond to powerful painkillers.

Decades after their discovery by bioprospectors, amphibian-derived analgesics continue to attract scientific attention.

Compounds in the arachnids’ venom interact with ion channels to both cause and block pain.

In tiny doses, the pufferfish’s tetrodotoxin can be turned into a pain-relieving ion channel blocker.

Arachnids harbor a plentiful array of molecules that target mammalian pain receptors.

Venomous centipedes may harbor a clue to the creation of a successful pain-killing compound for humans.

Studying cone snail venom has yielded novel pain pathways, but the peptides that function as toxins are difficult to translate into drugs.

Painful snake bites may hold clues to developing analgesic drugs.

Since the mid-2000s, the voltage-gated sodium channel Na_V1.7 has emerged as a promising target for a new class of analgesics.

To treat neurological disease, researchers develop techniques to bypass or trick the guardian of the central nervous system.

The blood-brain barrier is a collection of specialized cells and proteins that control the movement of molecules from the blood to the central nervous system.