Drug developers are designing new psychedelic compounds to treat depression and other mental-health conditions but skip the trip.

While many gene therapy development efforts focus on rare disease, Xalud Therapeutics is taking a swing that, measured in addressable patient market terms, is considerably bigger.

With pipeline and patent expiration pressures, large pharmaceutical companies will need to strategically acquire or align with biotechnology companies providing potential solutions to core asset life cycle management, as well as accessing proprietary assets to address pipeline gaps.

On Monday, Elixirgen Therapeutics and its research collaborators will present data from the company’s lead candidate, EXG-34217, a first-in-human cell therapy that aims to extend telomere length in patients with telomere biology disorders.

While many gene therapy development efforts focus on rare disease, Xalud Therapeutics is taking a swing that, measured in addressable patient market terms, is considerably bigger.

Theseus’ pan-variant inhibitor candidates are designed to outsmart cancer treatment resistance by precluding that “arms race.” Pan-variant inhibitors are single therapeutic agents that maintain their anti-cancer activity against a target protein in the face of any and all major classes of cancer-causing and resistance mutations.

PepGen was one of a handful of biotech companies to go public this year, tapping into capital markets despite high inflation and economic conditions that have leading analysts predicting a global recession throughout 2023.

The concept behind EMulate’s approach is mind-boggling. The company “records” the electromagnetic signature of specific molecules and is then able to use those recordings to effect changes in cellular behaviour, without using chemicals. In its most advanced programme, EMulate’s technology has completed feasibility clinical trials for adults and children with terminal brain cancer, using a recording derived from chemotherapy drug paclitaxel. We caught up with EMulate’s CEO Chris Rivera to find out more.