Ovid Therapeutics announces eNeuro published studies on OV329 mechanism

Ovid Therapeutics announced that eNeuro, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal from the Society for Neuroscience published several preclinical studies validating OV329’s mechanism of action and anti-convulsant properties. Sustained exposure to low doses of OV329 delivered reduced GABA-AT activity and increased GABA accumulation in mouse brains. Mice treated with OV329 at 5 mg/kg every 24 hours for six days showed significantly reduced GABA-AT activity in the brain to 62.6 +/- 4.4% of control. In parallel, treatment with OV329 significantly increased GABA levels to 134.0 +/- 7.2% of control as measured using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy. Repeat, low doses of OV329 delivered synaptic and extra synaptic inhibition in mice suggesting it may provide sustained anti-convulsant activity. Mice consistently treated with a low dose of 0.5 mg/kg of OV329 over six days were shown to experience phasic and tonic inhibition as compared to placebo. These findings, which were measured by electrophysiological recordings, may differentiate OV329 from other anti-convulsant medicines and suggest the potential to provide broad inhibitory neurotransmission. Sustained doses of OV329 reduced the severity of status epilepticus and prevented development of benzodiazepine resistance in a mouse model with similarities to SE patients. OV329 was shown to have superior potency to the GABA-AT target than published results for vigabatrin. OV239 had an IC50 of 104.1 nM for GABA-AT, while the published IC50 for VGB was 183.8 microM.