Mental Health and Human Resilience

Biography

Biography: Thomas P. Dooley

Abstract

Fast-acting and safer prn drug treatments for anxiety disorders are a significant unmet need in mental health. The recently developed PanX® drugs were designed to address this unmet need. PanX® drugs are a patented “new class” of medicines (www.PanX.us). The currently available PRN medicines for anxiety disorders are benzodiazepines. However, benzodiazepines are addictive and have the potential for abuse. As new alternatives to benzodiazepines, PanX® dual drug combinations consist of a beta blocker and an antiemetic antimuscarinic agent. The beta blocker (e.g., Atenolol or Propranolol) antagonizes epinephrine to reduce the cardiovascular symptoms of anxiety disorders, such as tachycardia and palpitations. The antiemetic motion sickness component (e.g., Scopolamine) antagonizes acetylcholine to reduce the non-cardiovascular and central nervous system symptoms, such as anxiousness, fear, avoidance, nausea and vomiting. By antagonizing the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nervous systems simultaneously, PanX® drug combinations are intended to suppress the multiplicity of symptoms of acute anxiety episodes. Furthermore, the active ingredients have been shown to be safe and non-addicting over the past half century. In the United States multiple regulatory pathways are envisioned for the anxiolytic products. Given that the active ingredients are already approved in other drugs, compounded pharmaceuticals have been prescribed and have provided anecdotal evidence of a calming effect in humans. We are also pursuing clinical development toward a US FDA approval. The products can be formulated for rapid effect by mucosal delivery (e.g., sublingual), among other routes of administration. PanX® drugs are promising breakthrough medications intended as fast-acting and safer alternatives to benzodiazepines for the treatment of acute anxiety episodes.