COPENHAGEN (AFX) - NeuroSearch AS said it sees the hormone-like peptide kisspeptin as a libido stimulator and a treatment of abnormal puberty or growth.
The Danish healthcare company said its scientists, working in collaboration with scientists at Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Strasbourg, have shown that kisspeptin plays a central role in controlling libido.
The peptide fully re-established the sexual function of hamsters, which are sexually active only during the summer period, while they were kept under winter-like conditions, NeuroSearch said.
‘These are important findings which demonstrate that sexual behaviour is controlled by the brain and that cells containing kisspeptin fully or partly regulate libido,’ it said.
Kisspeptin, which was discovered in 2003, has so far been considered only to influence the development of puberty.
NeuroSearch said the latest research findings leave new opportunities for the treatment of low or no libido as well as for the treatment of abnormal puberty or growth.
The kisspeptin project originates from the company’s early drug discovery within target identification. The continued drug discovery activities in the project will focus on the identification of kisspeptin modulators as the basis for novel drug candidates, it said.