Italian scientist tests anti-depressant

(ANSA) - Rome, December 9 - 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.