Low enrollment in a phase III trial and a missed primary endpoint sent Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s shares tumbling by 35% on Jan. 26, although the company’s AR-301 (tosatoxumab) showed superior efficacy over the control group in Staphylococcus aureus ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) patients.

The burgeoning psychedelic therapeutics market experienced a boost Jan. 25 as Small Pharma Inc. announced its synthetic, intravenous formulation of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), SPL-026, led to a statistically significantly, rapid reduction in depression symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder in a phase IIa trial, thus meeting its primary endpoint. DMT is a powerful hallucinogenic tryptamine substance which works as a 5-HT receptor agonist. It is found naturally in various plants, and is a schedule I controlled substance in the U.S. Although lesser known than other psychedelics such as magic mushrooms and LSD, it produces short-lived but intense auditory and visual hallucinogenic effects.

Microbiome company Finch Therapeutics Group Inc. has suffered one blow after another in the past year with dwindling cash, delayed programs, a terminated deal and three workforce reductions. The latest reduction will bring the once healthy 189-person company down to a handful of employees, and it places the lead program – the oral microbiota product, CP-101, for Clostridium difficile infection – on the sidelines.

Axcella Therapeutics Inc. is working on its comeback to make something else go away. Just before Christmas, Axcella said it was repositioning itself to focus on long COVID-19 and was just granted regulatory guidance on a primary endpoint and study design from the U.K.’s MHRA to conduct a single registration trial of AXA-1125 for those with long COVID fatigue. Axcella will be meeting with the MHRA in the near term to discuss getting an innovative licensing and access pathway application, which is designed to accelerate the approval process. Axcella also has just submitted its IND to the U.S. FDA for a global phase IIb/III study for treating long COVID.

Vasc-Alert LLC’s surveillance technology successfully predicts which dialysis patients are at risk of experiencing stenosis, a study published in the Journal of Vascular Access shows. Patients assigned high scores by the company’s algorithm had seven times the risk of stenosis and blockage compared to those with low-risk scores.

The U.S. FDA has lifted the clinical hold on Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Fortis phase I/II trial evaluating adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene replacement therapy AT-845 in adults with late-onset Pompe disease.