Galenea Corp has been awarded a highly competitive grant from the National Institute of Mental Health in response to the solicitation “Recovery Act Limited Competition: NIH director's Opportunity for Research in Five Thematic Areas (RC4)”, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Galenea has developed an innovative technology platform, termed Mantra (Multiwell, Automated NeuroTRansmission Assay) that enables high-throughput screening for the identification of small molecule modulators of synaptic transmission.

Synaptic transmission is the process by which neurons in the brain communicate and is fundamental to cognition and memory, among other brain functions. Multiple lines of research suggest that altered synaptic transmission contributes to the symptoms of schizophrenia. Galenea will use the US$ 4.5 million in funding over the next three years to advance its technology platform and to identify and progress novel compounds for the treatment of schizophrenia. Mantra also has significant drug discovery potential for many other psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases associated with impairments in synaptic transmission, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

This is the second grant awarded to Galenea under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The first grant was awarded in October 2009 as part of the NIH Challenge Grant in Health and Science Research (RC1) and is currently supporting the development of a novel technology for measuring in vivo biomarkers that predict the activity of potential treatments for diseases associated with impaired cognition. David Gerber, co-founder and VP of CNS Research, said, “These two grants validate Galenea’s innovative approach to increasing the success rate of drug discovery and development in the neuroscience field. Drugs with new mechanisms of action are desperately needed to address psychiatric and neurological diseases, but have been extremely difficult to find. Mantra will enable us to identify new drug targets and new compounds based on their functional effects on neurons.”

Mark Benjamin, chief executive officer, added “We are delighted that the NIMH has again recognized the pioneering research that is ongoing at Galenea. Only through innovation will our industry find breakthrough medicines for patients suffering from the devastating effects of schizophrenia and other central nervous system diseases. We truly appreciate the continued support of our programs by NIMH.”

Galenea is dedicated to advancing the treatment of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.