BetterLife- Carleton University Research Team Secures Funding form Mitacs

Dr. Argel Aguilar-Valless and his team will collaborate with BetterLife to examine TD-010 in both in vitro and in vivo models developed in their lab as part of the research agreement.

FREMONT, CA: BetterLife Pharma, an emerging biotech company focused on developing compounds to treat neurological conditions, recently announced that the Accelerate program at Mitacs has funded its joint application with Carleton University’s Department of Neuroscience’s Dr. Argel Aguilar-Valles for research into the anxiol.

BetterLife is developing TD-010, also known as dihydrohonokiol-B (DHH-B), as a treatment for benzodiazepine addiction and anxiety. It is a derivative of the anxiolytic substance honokiol, which has shown in animal experiments to have more strong anxiolytic-like effects than the parent drug.

Dr. Ahmad Doroudian, Chief Executive Officer of BetterLife, stated: “TD-010 is a potential novel therapy to treat debilitating anxiety disorders that show resistance to benzodiazepine and other therapies or require a long-term use and therefore put patients at risk for dependency. 

BetterLifes goal is to bring this treatment to the Investigational New Drug (IND) application and the clinic as soon as possible because it is non-addictive yet potentially highly effective. We thank Mitacs for the funding and Carleton University’s team, headed by Dr. Argel Aguilar-Valles at the Department of Neuroscience, for being an ideal partner to help us realize this vision.”

Dr. Argel Aguilar-Valless and his team will collaborate with BetterLife to examine TD-010 in both in vitro and in vivo models developed in their lab as part of the research agreement. Understanding the molecular pathways that underpin psychiatric and neurodevelopmental problems is one of the team’s specialties. Biochemistry, molecular biology, neuronal culture, and animal models are used to accomplish this.

Dr. Argel Aguilar-Valles commented: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to examine TD-010 in our established animal anxiety models. The high rate of resistance to benzodiazepine and SSRIs for chronic anxiety disorder indicates an urgent unmet need for alternative anxiolytic treatments. TD-010 has shown to have more potent anxiolytic effects than its parent compound honokiol and it can be a promising alternative in the treatment of chronic anxiety.”