Figuring out that the immune system is to blame is a slow process, and sometimes comes too late for patients who have already undergone brain damage. Even once a patient is diagnosed, treatments for anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis tend to be blunt and aimed at tamping down the whole immune system.

Researchers at Arialys Therapeutics think that there’s a better way to treat the condition. The biotech company is developing a new drug, so far dubbed ART5803, to treat anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis by precisely blocking the immune system’s interactions with neurons. If their drug succeeds in animal studies and makes its way into human trials, it could change the paradigm for how physicians treat not only anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, but also a host of psychiatric diseases.

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