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Sigma receptor is a transmembrane non‐GPCR protein expressed mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane associated with mitochondria. It is classified into two types: Sigma‐1 (S1R) and Sigma‐2 (S2R) based on their biological functions. S1R has been implicated in many neurological disorders such as anxiety, schizophrenia, and depression. Therefore, S1R ligands possess a variety of potential clinical applications with a great interest in the treatment of neuropathic pain. In this study, we report the discovery of a novel lead compound for S1R binding, based on the thiazolidine‐2,4‐dione nucleus. We have explored hydrophobic groups of different sizes on both sides of the five‐membered ring scaffold guided by the crystal structure of S1R. Six compounds showed more than 50% displacement of the radioligand at 10 µM concentration with compound 6c resulting in 100% displacement and a Ki of 95.5 nM. Moreover, compounds 6c and 6e showed a significant selectivity over S2R. In addition, molecular docking predicted that all the compounds showed the critical salt bridge with Glu172 with variable degrees of π‐stacking interaction with Tyr103. Upon optimization, this series of compounds could represent potential clinically useful S1R ligands for pain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining short‐acting and long‐acting insulin analogs was a real challenge that was overcome by NovoNordisk through the co‐formulation of insulin aspart and insulin degludec in single‐dosage form. The proposed study provides a simple, short, and reliable HPLC method with diode array detection that is developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of insulin aspart and insulin degludec in human plasma. The proposed method achieved good separation between the two analytes utilizing a C8 column at 35°C in a very short run time (6 min), with a simple, low‐cost, and reliable extraction method through precipitation of plasma protein. Gradient elution was applied using a mobile phase consisting of 0.1 M sodium sulfate (pH 3.4) and acetonitrile. The method was validated according to EMA Guideline on Bioanalytical Validation. The proposed method had a linear range from 3.0 to 300 μg/mL for insulin aspart and from 3.5 to 300 μg/mL for insulin degludec. The intra‐ and inter‐day precision of insulin aspart were 0.36–3.33% and 1.59–8.84%, respectively, and accuracy was between 10.06 and 3.09% The intra‐ and inter‐day precision of insulin degludec were 0.29–1.93% and 0.89–5.14%, respectively, and accuracy was between −5.29 and 3.91%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]