Bicifadine (DOV-220,075) is a serotonin-norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (SNDRI) discovered at

American Cyanamid American Cyanamid Company was a leading American conglomerate which became one of the nation's top 100 manufacturing companies during the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Fortune 500 listings at the time. It started in fertilizer, but added ...

as an

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

drug candidate, and licensed to

DOV Pharmaceutical DOV Pharmaceutical was a biotechnology company that focused on therapies primarily for central nervous system conditions. It was founded in 1995 by former employees of American Cyanamid (which was acquired by Wyeth in 1994), and in 1998 it in-lic ...

in 1998 after American Cyanamid was acquired by

Wyeth Wyeth, LLC was an American pharmaceutical company. The company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860 as ''John Wyeth and Brother''. It was later known, in the early 1930s, as American Home Products, before being renamed to Wyeth in ...

. In January 2007, Dov licensed the rights to bicifadine to XTL Biopharmaceuticals after bicifadine failed in a Phase III clinical trial for chronic lower back pain. XTL ran a PhaseIIb clinical trial for pain caused by

diabetic neuropathy Diabetic neuropathy is various types of nerve damage associated with diabetes mellitus. Symptoms depend on the site of nerve damage and can include motor changes such as weakness; sensory symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or pain; or autonomic c ...

, which failed in 2008; XTL terminated the agreement in 2010. In 2010 Dov was acquired by Euthymics Bioscience which intended to continue development of other candidates from Dov's portfolio.Fierce Biotech July 22, 201
Euthymics lands $24M to fund antidepressant work
/ref> Bicifadine has a non-

opioid Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid us ...

, non-

NSAID Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are members of a therapeutic drug class which reduces pain, decreases inflammation, decreases fever, and prevents blood clots. Side effects depend on the specific drug, its dose and duration of ...

mechanism Mechanism may refer to: *Mechanism (engineering), rigid bodies connected by joints in order to accomplish a desired force and/or motion transmission *Mechanism (biology), explaining how a feature is created *Mechanism (philosophy), a theory that a ...

for the treatment of pain, which should have less abuse potential than opioid drugs and less propensity to cause gastric ulcers than NSAID drugs. While the drug is purported to be a

serotonin Serotonin () or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Its biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vas ...

(SERT) and

noradrenaline transporter The norepinephrine transporter (NET), also known as noradrenaline transporter (NAT), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the solute carrier family 6 member 2 (SLC6A2) gene. NET is a monoamine transporter and is responsible for the sodium- ...

(NET) inhibitor, it also has effects at the

dopamine transporter The dopamine transporter (also dopamine active transporter, DAT, SLC6A3) is a membrane-spanning protein that pumps the neurotransmitter dopamine out of the synaptic cleft back into cytosol. In the cytosol, other transporters sequester the dopam ...

(DAT), effectively making it a broad-spectrum

monoamine transporter Monoamine transporters (MATs) are protein structures that function as integral plasma-membrane transporters to regulate concentrations of extracellular monoamine neurotransmitters. Three major classes of MATs (SERT, DAT, NET) are responsible for ...

inhibitor or " triple reuptake inhibitor."

References

{{Monoamine reuptake inhibitors Abandoned drugs Analgesics Cyclopropanes Pyrrolidines Serotonin–norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitors 4-Tolyl compounds

See also

References