Research Wednesday

For this weeks Research Wednesday, I want to focus on another clinical trial currently taking place.  STX209 is a little differnt type of drug than AFQ056 that I went over last week, but it has the same theories behind it.  It is essentially a receptor agonist, classified as a "selective gamma amino butyric acid type B receptor agonist" or GABA-B for short.  STX209 inhibits glutamate signaling in the brain and should, thereby, indirectly inhibit the excessive metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) mediated protein synthesis implicated in fragile X syndrome. The current studies not only cover Fragile X, but also ASD which would make it an ideal candidate for our little Ayden should it hit the market.

Seaside Therapeutics is the company responsible for STX209 and is currently working on Phase III of testing.  The Phase II results were released last summer where parents and patients were reporting decreased outbursts and tantrums as well as increased sociability.  The results also noted many patients were successfully withdrawn from other medications including mood stabilizers, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotics while participating in the study.  While not listed in the actual results section of the Phase II trials, I have spoken with many parents participating in the trial who have repeatedly mentioned they also noticed speech improvements along with the behavioral improvements noted in the studies. 

"We're seeing reductions in a lot of types of outbursts and irritable behavior, along with increased communication and social behavior," says Dr. Randall Carpenter, co-founder, president and CEO of Seaside.

Overall, another very promising study out there for not only FXS, but also for Autism.  I can't wait to see where the next phase of testing brings us on this!

You can read more about STX209 and Autism (ASD) here
The clinical trials section about STX209 from Seaside is here
Also, the official clinical trial information for Phase III is listed here (You can also see any locations that are participating in Phase III from this link.)