With an increasing number of neurological manifestations being reported in patients suffering from COVID-19 infection, the need for therapies to treat those conditions as well as other major CNS disorders has, once again, been highlighted. That may be one of the reasons why investors have turned their attention to the space once again, with several members of the BioWorld Neurological Diseases index enjoying an uptick in their share valuations.
The number of clinical trials initiated each year has continued to grow every year over the last decade, sans a slight decrease in 2013, according to data presented in a webcast facilitated by Applied Clinical Trials.
Although the FDA suggested in May that it might have trouble meeting PDUFA dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 30 approvals of biologics and drugs handed down in June 2020 is the highest number for a single month in the past five years.
While biopharmaceutical research is currently concentrating on the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease has provided a sharp reminder that our focus should not be lost on infectious diseases as a whole, along with the growing global problem of antibiotic resistance (AMR), which has the potential to dwarf COVID-19 in terms of deaths and economic costs, according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).
In case you haven't heard, Tessera Therapeutics Inc. is working on techniques to write genes into the genome of patients. Tessera, which was developed in Flagship Pioneering Inc.'s Flagship Labs and became a stand-alone incorporated company two years ago, recently came out of stealth mode to highlight its Gene Writing platform based on mobile genetic elements, such as transposons and retrotransposons.