An Italian scientist in the
United States is leading clinical testing of a promising new
anti-depressant drug that rebuilds neurons in the brain.
Research has shown that stress and depression diminish
neurogenesis, or the brain's capacity to generate fresh neurons.
The new drug called NSI-189 appears to stimulate
neurogenesis, according to Massachusetts General Hospital
Clinical Research Program Director Maurizio Fava, a psychiatrist
from the Vicenza area who has been living and working in Boston
for the past 30 years.
"NSI-189 is a small molecule of a new chemical entity,"
Fava told ANSA.
"Its exact mechanism is still being researched, but the
drug has been shown to increase synapses (connections between
neurons)...we believe it works at the DNA level".
Phase I clinical trials on 24 patients have shown NSI-189
to have few adverse side effects and to be effective in the long
term, according to findings published in the Molecular
Psychiatry journal.
"Phase II trials will involve 220 patients with results in
early 2017," Fava told ANSA.
Final results of Phase II trials will be known in early
2017 and those of Phase III trials the following year, said
Fava, a graduate of Padua University.
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