Nocion Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in the Boston area developing a new class of small-molecule 'charged' sodium channel blockers - nocions - that selectively, locally, and durably silence overactive sensory neurons (nociceptors) without numbing everything else. Its lead candidate, taplucainium, is an inhaled powder aimed at refractory and unexplained chronic cough, with broader potential across itch, pain, and neurogenic inflammation. The science was born in the Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital labs of Bruce Bean and Clifford Woolf.
Rick Batycky is a chemical engineer turned biotech founder who has spent two decades coaxing medicines into the lungs. As President and CEO of Nocion Therapeutics, he is developing a new class of charged sodium channel blockers built to silence overactive sensory neurons and finally quiet refractory chronic cough. Before Nocion he co-founded Civitas Therapeutics, revived a dormant inhalation platform, and carried the dry-powder levodopa therapy Inbrija through to FDA approval as Acorda's CTO.