 An agonist antiepileptic drug candidate is NAX 5055.It has been shown that galanin plays a role in the control of the early post-natal neural development of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG).Galanin-mutant animals show a 13% decrease in the number of adult DRG cells as well as a 24% decrease in the percentage of cells expressing substance P. This suggests that the cell loss by apoptosis that usually occurs in the developing DRG is regulated by galanin and that the absence of galanin results in an increase in the number of cells that die.