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NLS Pharmaceutics Announces the Appointment of Eric Konofal, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer (ME/CFS is mentioned)

Discussion in 'ME/CFS research news' started by Wyva, Jul 19, 2021.

  1. Wyva

    Wyva Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    This is a press release from a small Swiss pharmaceutical company. I'm sharing it because the newly appointed chief scientific officer said:

    "Our lead product candidate, Quilience®, is an exciting technology that we discovered has partial orexin-2 binding activity, and therefore, offers potential to significantly improve the treatment of patients with narcolepsy. In addition to supporting this program, my focus will be on the advancement of our earlier-stage compounds intended to treat diseases such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (or ME/CFS) associated with COVID-19, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and other sleep-wake cycle disorders including Central Disorders of Hypersomnolence (CDH) such as Kleine-Levin Syndrome.​

    Full article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nls-pharmaceutics-announces-appointment-eric-123000956.html
     
  2. Jaybee00

    Jaybee00 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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  3. Snow Leopard

    Snow Leopard Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Which is a stimulant and appetite suppressant. I'm not convinced this will work any more effectively than any of the other stimulants that have been trialed (dextroamphetamine, Methylphenidate etc).
     
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  4. Jaybee00

    Jaybee00 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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  5. Simon M

    Simon M Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Robert Dantzer (who is an expert on sickness response/behaviour, a biologically-driven process) talked about orexin and its potential role in fatigue at the 2014 CMRC conference. My write up of his talk appeared on Health Rising (Cort decided to add a few bits of his own).

    Orexin – The key to Inflammation-related Fatigue
    Professor Dantzer finished his presentation by describing a recently-discovered system in the hypothalamus of the brain that plays a key role in regulating energy levels – and could be a target for drugs to treat fatigue. The orexin system senses metabolic status and the balance between feeding and energy expenditure. It responds to glucose as well as leptin, a key molecule signalling energy levels that has been implicated in CFS/ME).


    Is orexin the link between the metabolic and immune (leptin) problems in ME/CFS?

    [Younger’s research suggests leptin, a substance tied to both metabolism and microglial activation, could be a key driver of the immune activation found in ME/CFS. Younger, who is now director of the Neuroinflammation, Pain and Fatigue Lab at the University of Alabama, recently scored a major NIH grant to extend his research into leptin and immune activation in ME/CFS

    The orexin system also plays a role in sleep versus wakefulness. Unlike healthy rats, those given LPS fail to become more active at night. What’s really interesting is that the reduction in activity correlates with reduced levels of orexin. However, rats given orexin as well as LPS don’t show any reduction in activity, suggesting that orexin plays a key role in activity levels.

    Orexin as a Treatment for Fatigue?
    Researchers suspected that orexin may play a similar role in the cancer-related fatigue resulting from chemotherapy. They found that giving mice chemotherapy did indeed lead to lower levels of activity, indicating fatigue and a reduction in their orexin levels.

    Crucially, giving mice orexin alongside the chemo restored their activity levels, again suggesting reduced orexin played a central role in fatigue. He said that there are now drugs for narcolepsy targeting the orexin system, and perhaps they could one day be used for fatigue too.

    Professor Dantzer said his group are working on a test of orexin as a treatment for cancer-related fatigue.
     
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  6. Snow Leopard

    Snow Leopard Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    The Australian/Mike Musker study which monitored Leptin levels in circulation over 8 hours found no real association with severity or variation during the day. I'm not convinced that orexin is a key factor either, since our problem is not a disturbance of wakefulness like Narcolepsy.
     
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  7. Mithriel

    Mithriel Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    It is possible that a lot of what we feel as the disease is actually the body protecting itself so anything which masks those symptoms could cause more damage.

    Dr Paul Cheney found diastolic heart failure in his ME patients. He himself needed a heart transplant because of systolic heart failure. He said that his heart failed because it kept trying to work normally but in diastolic heart failure it is impossible to overwork the heart as it makes you feel bad so the heart does not fail.

    I would be very wary of taking a stimulant.
     
  8. FMMM1

    FMMM1 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Interesting, as well as Younger's research, I assume that the GWAS study should give clues i.e. if this is relevant to ME/CFS - correct?

    EDIT: @Jonathan Edwards would you expect to find something on an actigraphy/actimetry study if this was relevant?
     
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  9. FMMM1

    FMMM1 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Noticed Alzheimer's gets a mention - it's woefully underfunded but if sleep/wake cycle [orexin] is relevant to Alzheimer's then it should get some funding - should help to move the research on.
     
  10. Wyva

    Wyva Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Press release:
    NLS Pharmaceutics Announces Preclinical Results Confirming the Potential Benefit and Safety Profile of NLS-4 for Circadian Rhythm Dysregulation and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Long-Covid Model

    I couldn't find a link to the study and currently I'm not feeling well enough to go and look it up if there is any published. But it looks like they did it on rats...

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nls-pharmaceutics-announces-preclinical-results-133000460.html
     
  11. Mij

    Mij Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Most pwME don't need a drug that promotes wakefulness.

    Most have difficulty initiating sleep and staying asleep.
     
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  12. Snow Leopard

    Snow Leopard Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    For people who find benefit of modafinil it might be useful, but that drug has not proven to be useful for most patients.
     
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  13. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

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    Oh yes the tired sleepy people need a stimulant :banghead:
     
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