PsychoGenics drug discovery collaboration with Sunovion achieves milestone

The compound, SEP-856, is a potential antipsychotic agent with a novel mechanism of action being investigated as a possible treatment for patients with schizophrenia. The preclinical models for SEP-856 suggest that it may have the potential to treat the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

In August 2007, PsychoGenics and Sunovion entered into a drug discovery agreement to combine their complementary strengths and expertise to identify a new generation of treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Using its proprietary in vivo drug discovery technologies, including its SmartCube system, PsychoGenics evaluated a library of Sunovion compounds, leading to the discovery of several new drug candidates with novel modes of action, including SEP-856.

PsychoGenics’ President & CEO Emer Leahy said: "Our collaboration with Sunovion is highly productive and rewarding as we interact with some of the best minds and creative scientists in drug discovery.

There also are several earlier-stage programs for other CNS indications in Sunovion’s pipeline that further validate our phenotypic approach to CNS drug discovery."

PsychoGenics’ SmartCube, NeuroCube and PhenoCube drug discovery platforms combine broad in vivo behavioral expertise with developments in robotics, computer vision, and bioinformatics to evaluate drug candidates for potential utility across the spectrum of CNS disease indications.

Working in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, PsychoGenics has been instrumental in identifying therapeutic potential for discontinued compounds and compounds with novel mechanisms of action.