Allergan Announces Data On Investigational Medication Rapastinel

(RTTNews) - Allergan plc (AGN) announced that new data on the investigational medication rapastinel (GLYX-13) and its lack of impairment on cognitive function were published in the peer-reviewed journal Behavioural Brain Research.

The study found that unlike ketamine and phencyclidine (PCP), rapastinel (a functional NMDA receptor modulator) did not cause deficits in NOR in mice. This study also demonstrated rapastinel's ability to reverse NOR deficits produced by a single exposure to ketamine or multiple doses of PCP or ketamine.

In addition, rapastinel like ketamine has fast onset antidepressant effects. The data from this study demonstrates that rapastinel does not share some of the less desirable pharmacological properties of ketamine.

The goal of this study was to compare the effects on cognition of rapastinel and ketamine in novel object recognition (NOR) in mice. The NOR task is a validated animal model of human declarative memory (memory of facts and events) that has been widely used to identify differences across compounds. Deficits in learning and memory are often comorbid conditions in patients suffering from a number of mental illnesses including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

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