Geneva, Switzerland, July 8, 2026. Addex Therapeutics (SIX: ADXN and Nasdaq: ADXN) has released fresh preclinical findings suggesting that one of its experimental compounds can shift how animals sleep and how their brains handle stress.
The company, which builds small-molecule drugs called allosteric modulators for brain disorders, said the compound ADX71743 measurably changed sleep-wake patterns and stress-linked brain chemistry in animal studies.
The work appeared in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. It adds to a widening set of evidence that a receptor known as mGlu7 (metabotropic glutamate receptor 7) plays a central role in regulating core brain functions, and that blocking it could help treat conditions tied to a haywire stress response, including mood disorders, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
What The Study Found
ADX71743 is what scientists call a negative allosteric modulator, meaning it dials down the receptor’s activity rather than switching it off outright. In rats, the compound kept the animals awake longer and cut back on both REM and non-REM sleep.
It also reshaped the way stress altered several important brain chemicals, glutamate, GABA, and monoamines, across different regions of the brain in animals that were awake at the time. Those chemical shifts line up with the idea that the compound is acting on the neural circuits that govern stress.
Taken together, the results reinforce what selective mGlu7 blocking does inside a living system and lend more weight to the case that this mechanism could become a useful drug target.
Building On Earlier Work
The findings do not stand alone. Earlier research has shown that selectively inhibiting mGlu7 can shift anxiety-related behavior, interfere with the way troubling fear memories get locked back in, and change glutamate signaling in brain tissue from both rodents and humans.
Management Commentary
Tim Dyer, chief executive of Addex, said the sleep and wakefulness data supply one more piece of evidence backing the therapeutic promise of targeting these receptors through allosteric modulation.
He noted that ADX71743 has repeatedly helped pin down the biological job mGlu7 performs across a range of disease-relevant models, and said the company is glad to see the science continue to strengthen the rationale behind Neurosterix’s ongoing development of the target.
About ADX71743
ADX71743 is a potent, selective, brain-penetrant negative allosteric modulator of mGlu7. It has become the reference compound behind a string of publications exploring what mGlu7 modulation might do across anxiety, stress-related disorders, sleep regulation, fear memory, and visceral pain.
Addex discovered the molecule, and it now sits within the mGlu7 program being advanced by Neurosterix, the neuroscience company that Addex and Perceptive Advisors launched in 2024.
About Addex Therapeutics
Addex Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of small-molecule allosteric modulators for neurological disorders. Its lead candidate, dipraglurant (an mGlu5 negative allosteric modulator), is being evaluated for future development in brain injury recovery, covering both post-stroke and traumatic brain injury recovery.
Addex’s partner Indivior has picked a GABAB PAM candidate for development in substance use disorders and has finished the IND-enabling studies for it. Addex is separately advancing its own GABAB PAM program for chronic cough.
The company holds a 20% equity stake in Neurosterix US Holdings LLC, a private spin-out advancing several allosteric modulator programs, including an M4 PAM for schizophrenia, psychosis, and mood-related disorders and an mGlu7 NAM for mood disorders.
Addex has also invested in Stalicla, a private Swiss company pursuing a precision-medicine approach to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Addex shares trade on the SIX Swiss Exchange, and American Depositary Shares representing those shares trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market, both under the ticker “ADXN.” More information is available at www.addextherapeutics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
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