Encepheal Therapeutics

EncepHeal develops medications to treat substance abuse, starting…

encepheal.comWinston-Salem, USA1-10 employees

EncepHeal is developing medications to treat substance abuse. Our first product is a small molecule therapeutic for stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine, of which there are no FDA approved treatments. Our small molecule technology are atypical inhibitors of the dopamine transporter. Cocaine itself is an inhibitor of the same transporter. Directly reducing craving or positive reinforcement is a successful treatment strategy for addiction. Methadone or buprenorphine (Suboxone) are key examples of this for opioid use disorder. However, these types of medications can be addictive themselves. This has been a major hurdle for medication development for cocaine addiction and has led to many leaders in the addiction space to abandon the dopamine transporter as a target. At EncepHeal, we believe that the dopamine transporter should not be abandoned and instead focusing on fixing the abuse liability problem. Therefore with our partners at the National Institutes of Health, we have shown t