glutamate receptor

A couple of weeks ago I mysteriously referred to a drug called ADX10059, but didn’t say much about it.  So let’s take a quick look at another new migraine drug that is currently in the testing phase.

As I mentioned in the post The Latest on Tezampanel, a new Migraine Drug, ADX10059 also has to do with glutamate.  You can read the previous post for more on the connection between glutamate and migraine, as well as various types of chronic pain.

The technical description of ADX10059: a metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 negative allosteric modulator.  Wow!  We won’t go into every detail of how it functions, except to say that it inhibits glutamate, though in a different way than Tezampanel.

Testing is still in the second phase.  At the very least, the results so far show that ADX10059 is getting rid of migraine pain in some people, so there’s reason to continue with the testing.

As with Tezampanel, it is hoped that this drug will break into the migraine chain-reaction and "interrupt the migraine circuit".  Keep an eye on these emerging drugs – they’re different than what has come before, and are opening up a new field of study for migraine and other types of chronic pain.

ADDEX Pharmaceuticals is testing ADX10059, and has a brief explanation of mGluR5 & migraine on their site.  Expect to hear more about ADX10059 next year (2010).