Can a molecular Trojan Horse stop that nagging cough?

It’s an idea more than a decade in the making, born from an idle chat between scientists and inspired by a drug old enough to collect Social Security. Now it’s the basis of a startup that believes a wait-and-pounce approach to nagging neurons could treat cough, pain, inflammation, and more.

The company is Nocion, and it just raised $27 million to develop molecules inspired by Greek mythology. The company’s drugs, yet to be tested in human trials, are meant sit silently at the gates that guard nerve fibers. When those gates open — following an injury or inflammation — the molecules would slip in and blunt the firing neurons, resolving the problem before it manifests as a cough or a stab of pain.

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