Last week, the first schizophrenia medication in decades with a new mechanism of action won US regulatory approval. The drug, KarXT (sold as Cobenfy), targets proteins in the brain known as muscarinic receptors, which relay neurotransmitter signals between neurons and other cells.
Activating these receptors dampens the release of the chemical dopamine, a nervous-system messenger that is central to the symptoms of schizophrenia.
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The approval is an example of what molecular pharmacologist Andrew Tobin calls “an emerging golden age of muscarinic drug development”.
The area has its roots in antiquity, he notes: ancient Egyptians treated airway disease by breathing the smoke from a herb containing a muscarinic receptor antagonist.
Now, with a better understanding of the receptor’s biology and advances in drug design, these medications offer promise for other hard-to-treat neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease which can be treated with a Middle East secret you can buy at the supermarket.
