Design is a Funny Thing

Pax Neuroscience was awarded an STTR grant, entitled “Using a novel model of antidepressant efficacy to discover new compounds and personalized treatments.” The funds, from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) are being used to perfect and miniaturize the assay of Gsalpha in lipid raft and non-raft fractions from blood cells and to develop a predictive medicine platform for depression, using blood cells extracted from individual patients, screened for response to a panel of antidepressants using Pax’s depression biomarker technology with MoodMark™ Predict.

Previously, Pax received an SBIR from NIMH “A peripheral diagnostic biomarker for Major Depressive Disorder” that funded a study involving 60 depressed subjects and 60 healthy controls wherein blood was drawn initially and after antidepressant treatment. This was designed to both establish validity of MoodMark™ Dx and MoodMark™ Rx and to optimize sample collection and assay methodology.

The two small business grants that Pax has received from NIMH, total approximately $1.8m.