Market Opportunity Mood and anxiety disorders represent the largest market segment in the highly profitable, rapid growth category of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. An estimated 340 million people worldwide and 21 million people in the United States suffer from depression and anxiety. Over the past decade there has been increasing awareness of mood disorders, fading stigmatization and improved treatment options. Still, it is estimated that more than half of the people who use these treatments are unresponsive or intolerant of the side effects. Recent studies report an important relationship between mood disorders and neuropeptide circuits of the brain regulating stress and anxiety. Current antidepressant medications were not designed to target the neurobiological pathologies that are now considered central to the stress-linked etiology of depressive disorders. Targeting these stress-responsive neuropeptide circuits potentially offers a new and exciting treatment paradigm for mood and anxiety disorders.
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