Kynexis

Kynexis Therapeutics is advancing a novel oral treatment to improve cognition in neurological diseases, based on the hypothesis that dysregulation of kynurenic acid is a core driver of disorders affecting cognition, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Elevated kynurenic acid (KYNA), produced by the KAT-II enzyme, suppresses NMDA and α7 nicotinic receptor signaling pathways that normally support cognition; the company's first-in-class KAT-II inhibitor, KYN-5356, is designed to lower KYNA and restore that balance. In a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers, KYN-5356 demonstrated measurable reductions in brain KYNA levels, and the company is now advancing it in a Phase 2 clinical trial for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS) while expanding development into Alzheimer's disease. In schizophrenia alone, cognitive impairment is one of the primary causes of disability for over 24 million affected people worldwide, with no drugs currently approved to treat CIAS.