In spite of numerous marketed treatments, anxiety and depression are psychiatric disorders which constitute a major health concern. Agents with increased efficacy or a reduced side-effects profile are actively sought by pharmaceutical companies. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is a 41-aminoacid peptide characterized as the principal mediator of the effects of stress via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. CRF receptors are 7-transmembrane ...