Neurokinin receptor antagonists

The area of neurokinin research is now beginning to come of age following the publication of a number of clinical trials. Positive clinical results have been reported from a variety of anti-emetic trials of neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonists. These agents offer a clinical advantage over existing therapies in that delayed emesis resulting from cancer chemotherapy has now been addressed as well as post-operative emesis. The first successful clinical evidence supporting the use of a selective NK2 receptor antagonist in asthma has been revealed. A selective NK1 receptor antagonist was found to have excellent antidepressant and anxiolytic activity in a recent Phase II depression trial; this represents the first new mechanistic approach to depression in forty years. To date there has been no clinical evidence to support the use of NK1 antagonists in pain. Patent claims covering a diverse array of structural classes and new indications continue to flourish in an arena dominated by most of the leading pharmaceutical companies.