CHAIR
:
SPEAKER
(S):
Stacy Castner, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine
Dr. Frank Yocca, Ph.D., Vice President, CNS Research, AstraZeneca
Ray Dingledine, Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, Emory University School of Medicine
Anna Sundgren Andersson, Project Leader, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LLP
Greg Gatto, Targacept
Description
To date, despite the potential of ion channel drug targets, the difficulty of prosecuting drug discovery for ion channels has hindered the development of therapies. The advent of medium throughput patch clamp instrumentation has made voltage-gated ion channels more tractable as drug targets, but non-voltage-gated, or ligand-gated, channels are viewed as holding more promise of providing new therapeutic approaches to central nervous system (CNS) indications (NMDA, VR1, ?7 nicotinic receptor, and ?4?2 nicotinic receptor).
Objectives:
Highlight recent advances in drug discovery for non-voltage-gated ion channels for CNS indication.
Provide specific examples of therapeutic approaches for pain, cognition and Alzheimer's disease.
Offer guidance for business opportunities in this arena.