Beyond Air, Inc. announced the presentation of data that support the ongoing preclinical development of selective neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibitors for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These data will be presented by the Amal Lab from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) in a poster at the Annual International Society of Neurochemistry (ISN) and the European Society of Neurochemistry (ESN) meetings, which are being held in Portugal from August 8th ? 11th.

Research conducted recently at HUJI has shown that mutation in the CNTNAP2 gene increases NO formation in the brain of the ASD mouse model. These data show that pharmacological inhibition of NO with a selective inhibitor of nNOS restored expression levels of glutamaterfic and GABAergic markers, rescued the normal synaptic morphology, and improved the ASD-like phenotypes in the mutant CNTNAP2 gene in mice. These data demonstrate that the inhibition of NO production may reverse ASD phenotypes, and provide further evidence that NO is a pathologic factor in autism.

These results have led researchers to believe that NO is a novel target for the treatment of ASD and other neurological disorders. The collaboration between Beyond Air and Hebrew University of Jerusalem to develop selective nNOS inhibitors for the treatment of ASD is being conducted under a research and license agreement signed via Yissum, Research Development Company of the Hebrew University.