Our Science

At Kinoxis Therapeutics, we are developing therapies with transdiagnostic potential to restore social behavior and treat related symptoms across many diseases and disorders, to make them more bearable.

For patients and for loved ones

Agitation & Aggression in Dementia

Someone in the world develops dementia every three seconds, and as many as 76% of these patients have symptoms of agitation & aggression.

These symptoms have a profound impact on patients – who can become socially isolated, placed in challenging living conditions if symptoms can’t be managed, and given treatments that carry significant risks – and on caregivers, who provide an average of five hours of supervision per day.

In multiple preclinical studies, KN100 reduced aggression and agitation-like behaviour, and did so by interacting with highly disease relevant neural and pharmacological mechanisms. Kinoxis is advancing KNX100 as a treatment for agitation & aggression in dementia patients with an ongoing Phase 2 study, CARES-X.

Substance Use Disorders

For those fortunate enough to begin the journey of recovery, huge obstacles lie ahead, including withdrawal symptoms and craving.

Craving is an intense urge to use a substance driven by neurobiological changes that occur over the course of chronic substance use.

Craving can be driven by a desire for the positive effects of a substance or to temporarily escape the negative states often experienced by those with a substance use disorder. Craving plays a major role in drug and alcohol consumption and one of the primary causes of relapse.

Kinoxis is committed to providing therapies for those who make it to recovery, to prevent craving and treat withdrawal. Our lead candidate KNX100 has demonstrated pre-clinical efficacy in multiple animal models of addiction, has a highly differentiated mechanism of action, and has been demonstrated to be safe and well tolerated in humans.

We are advancing KNX100 as a transdiagnostic treatment for substance use disorders through multiple clinical trials spanning alcohol, opioid, and methamphetamine use disorders.

Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol is the most used psychoactive substance globally, and alcohol use disorder is one of the most prevalent substance use disorders.¹

In 2019, 400 million people aged 15 and older were living with alcohol use disorder and alcohol contributed to 2.9 million deaths.2 These alarming statistics underscore the widespread and dangerous impact of alcohol use, which not only affects individual health but also places a heavy burden on healthcare systems and society as a whole.  

In preclinical studies, KNX100 has shown potential for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD). In collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), KNX100 is progressing toward a Phase 1b alcohol interaction studies, followed by a Phase 2a proof-of-concept study focused on reducing craving.

Opioid Use Disorder

In 2022, over 80,000 people died from an opioid overdose in the USA.¹

Treating opioid addiction is challenging and many patients who enter recovery will relapse.

The ongoing opioid crisis places a heavy burden on individuals and families, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive treatment programs and long-term support to improve outcomes for those battling OUD.

In preclinical studies, KNX100 showed potential to treat the negative emotional symptoms of opioid withdrawal and to reduce opioid craving by normalising activity in a highly disease relevant brain circuit that is altered in opioid use disorder. Kinoxis have been working closing with the US NIH to develop KNX100 for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Kinoxis are advancing KNX100 for the treatment of craving and the negative affective symptoms of opioid use disorder

Methamphetamine Use Disorder

There are no approved medications for treating methamphetamine or any stimulant use disorder.

With 1.6 million people in the USA alone suffering from methamphetamine use disorder, and fewer than one-third receiving any treatment^1,2, there is a desperate need for novel therapeutic interventions. The time to change the lives of these patients and their families is now.

In preclinical studies, KNX100 has shown potential to treat methamphetamine and other stimulant use disorders. Kinoxis is advancing KNX100 as a treatment for methamphetamine use disorder with a planned Phase 1b/2a study targeting methamphetamine craving.