BrainCells, a company that stakes its existence on the once-heretical notion of linkurl:adult neurogenesis,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12172/ is finally taking its novel treatment for depression into a phase II trial, CEO Jim Schoeneck told me at a neurotechnology meeting in Boston yesterday (May 8). Researchers have recently begun to suspect that treating depression requires neurogenesis. Drugs such as Prozac, though, stimulate nerve growth via the serotonin pathway, which may be what causes the side effects many patients experience. Last year, The Scientist linkurl:reported on BrainCells' work;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/52980/ on a compound called BCI540 that spurred neurogenesis via a different pathway and improved symptoms of depression in an animal model. When I caught up with Schoeneck for an update on the work, he told me that that the company had kicked off a Phase 2 trial of the compound in April, and had secured $50 million in funding to continue its work. BrainCells' mode of operation...
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