How does one decide who makes an “under 40” list? After the last nominations come in from staff and readers, we’re left to sort through hundreds of names, with no obvious guideposts for how to do so. Do we want the basic scientist behind a major discovery, or the executive working to translate it into medicines? The venture capitalist spinning out a half-dozen companies or the founder with one big idea? Leaders who have already brought drugs into the clinic or leaders who seem on the cusp of it?

PsyBio Therapeutics, where Jones is chairman of the scientific advisory board, is commercializing the process. Jones and his team invented a one-pot method of bioprocessing with E. coli to make tryptamines. Starting with 4-hydroxyindole, the process developed by Jones produces psilocybin. He says that this technique provides three key advantages—cheaper, faster, and greener than other methods.

Rain Therapeutics catapulted itself toward pivotal development in September when it picked up a cancer drug from Daiichi Sankyo. Now, the California biotech aims to raise up to $100 million in its Wall Street debut, which will fuel a phase 3 study for the asset in liposarcoma, a cancer that occurs in the body’s fat cells, and a phase 2 study in solid tumors.

It’s been a nice month for Pyxis Oncology: After penning a major licensing deal with Pfizer, the startup now has $152 million extra in the bank to help it push on with its expanded pipeline.

Evan Levine, Co-Founder and CEO, PsyBio Therapeutics is pursuing a paradigm shift in the treatment of mental illness and other neurological disorders by using psychedelics and hallucinogenics. PsyBio biosynthesizes psilocybin and other psychoactive drugs from different plants  and fungi from genetically-modified bacteria. Under the influence of an anxiogenic molecule in a controlled setting, early clinical trials are showing a change in consciousness and rewiring of the brain to be able to address issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD and substance abuse.

Takeda penned a potentially billion-dollar deal with Anima Biotech to work on mRNA translation modulators for neurological diseases. The Japanese pharma also launched a digital health incubator in Shanghai. Fellow Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo has ushered its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine into a phase 1/2 trial for initial safety and immunogenicity analysis. And more.