JNJ-39393406 is an experimental medication which is under development by

Janssen Pharmaceutica Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American ...

, a division of Johnson & Johnson, for the treatment of

depressive disorder A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic and Stat ...

s and smoking withdrawal. It acts as a selective

positive allosteric modulator In pharmacology and biochemistry, allosteric modulators are a group of substances that bind to a receptor to change that receptor's response to stimulus. Some of them, like benzodiazepines, are drugs. The site that an allosteric modulator binds to ...

of the α7

nicotinic acetylcholine receptor Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs, are receptor polypeptides that respond to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Nicotinic receptors also respond to drugs such as the agonist nicotine. They are found in the central and peripheral ner ...

(nAChR). It does not act on the α4β2 or α3β4 nAChRs or the serotonin 5-HT₃ receptor, and does not interact with a panel of 62 other

receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a ...

s and

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...

s. The drug has been found to lower the agonist and

nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...

threshold for activation of the α7 nAChR by 10- to 20-fold and to increase the maximum agonist response of the α7 nAChR by 17- to 20-fold. As of February 2018, JNJ-39393406 is in phase II

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, diet ...

s for both depressive disorders and smoking withdrawal. It was also under investigation for the treatment of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

and Alzheimer's disease, but development for these indications was discontinued.

References

Amines Antidepressants Benzodioxoles Experimental drugs Fluoroarenes Nicotinic antagonists Nootropics Propionamides 4-Pyridyl compounds Smoking cessation Triazoles {{Nervous-system-drug-stub

See also

References