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SynapCell and the University of Utah Celebrate their 10 Year Anniversary of Collaboration on AntiSeizure Medications
Grenoble, France / Salt Lake City, UT, USA, June 6, 2024 – SynapCell celebrates today the ten-year anniversary of its partnership with the University of Utah as the prime contract testing site of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s (NINDS) Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (ETSP). NINDS is part of the National Institutes of Health. This partnership represents a long-lasting and trustworthy collaboration with the University of Utah and the Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) Program led by Prof. Karen Wilcox. SynapCell and the ADD Program will work together in revealing the anti-seizure potential of novel compounds, with a focus on refractory epilepsies affecting millions of people worldwide.
Despite the availability of over 20 antiseizure medications, about one-third of epilepsy cases remains drug resistant representing an important unmet medical need. This collaboration aims at identifying the most promising molecules against pharmacoresistant epilepsies submitted by program participants.
“We feel very grateful and humbled to remain the University of Utah’s partner for a decade,” declared Corinne Roucard, CEO of SynapCell. “We are committed to bringing drug discoverers the resources they need to take educated decisions about the efficacy of their molecules, and we want to thank the University of Utah for their trust and long-lasting collaboration in the discovery of novel anti-seizures medications.”
Pr. Karen S. Wilcox, Director of the ADD Program, stated, “Drug-resistant epilepsies remain to this day a challenge, and there is a need for translational models to empower preclinical drug discovery. SynapCell’s MTLE mouse model is clinically relevant as it closely replicates the physiopathological, electrophysiological, and pharmacological features of human temporal lobe epilepsy. Having this model available in the ADD Program is a chance and a great asset for the ETSP.”
This collaboration allows the University of Utah’s ADD Program to assess the effect of newly developed compounds on a translational non-convulsive model and focal epilepsy. Throughout this decade of collaboration and after three contract renewals, over 270 molecules have been evaluated by SynapCell through its MTLE mouse model screening program.
About SynapCell
SynapCell is a leading preclinical CRO for the Central Nervous System (CNS). A key partner in drug discovery, SynapCell draws on 20 years’ experience to facilitate the development of new molecules by providing drug discoverers with the information they need to assess a molecule’s efficacy and enable them to make Go/No Go decisions. To this end, SynapCell offers translational drug discovery solutions combining EEG biomarkers and relevant rodent models. In the field of Epilepsy, SynapCell has thus evaluated a wide range of compounds for international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, resulting in several clinical leads. Since 2015, the company has extended its offering to other major CNS disorders such as Movement disorders, Psychiatry or Neurodegenerative Diseases, offering its customers worldwide complementary decision-making capabilities to accelerate drug discovery for brain pathologies.
About ADD Program
The University of Utah’s Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) Program, which serves as the contract site of the NINDS funded Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program, is actively involved in the early identification and characterization of novel investigational anticonvulsant drugs for the treatment of epilepsy. The project uses preclinical seizure models and neuroscience techniques to help develop new antiepileptic agents. Promising compounds, which exhibit a high level and/or unusual spectrum of activity with superior therapeutic potential, are selected for detailed toxicology studies and subsequent clinical trials in epileptic patients. The project has been continually funded since 1975 and every new anticonvulsant introduced to clinical use in the USA during the past 40 years has been evaluated in this research program. For more information on ADD Program, please click here.