Targacept, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the design, discovery and development of neuronal nicotinic receptors (NNR) Therapeutics for the treatment of multiple diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. The Company has clinical-stage product candidates for target indications in three therapeutic areas, which includes cognitive impairment, depression and anxiety, and pain. It also has preclinical programs focused in smoking cessation, addiction, obesity, pain, Parkinson’s disease and inflammation. The Company has collaboration with AstraZeneca and an alliance with GlaxoSmithKline. The drug discovery activities utilize computer-based molecular design methodologies and biological data for a library of compounds developed and collected over more than 20 years. The technologies are referred to as Pentad. The Company use Pentad to design or optimize AZD3480 (TC-1734), TC-5619, TC-2216 and TC-6499.