Imperative Care Inc. secured $100 million through an oversubscribed convertible note financing round to support commercialization of its stroke and vascular thrombectomy technologies. The round was co-led by new investors Elevage Medical Technologies and Perceptive Advisors alongside existing investor Catalio Capital Management LP. Also participating were new backers Longaeva Partners LP and Brown Advisory, with continued support from existing investors, including Ally Bridge Group and Bain Capital Life Sciences.

Neurodegenerative disease and cognitive decline cannot be explained by a single process. Beta-amyloid plaques, hyperphosphorylated tau, alpha-synuclein, activated microglia and astrocytes, altered receptors such as TREM2, mitochondrial dysfunction, epigenetic changes and cerebrovascular alterations all seem to contribute to the development of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While scientists attempt to address each of these elements, prevention is growing as a primary goal.

Australia has released the first clinical practice guideline for the appropriate use of methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, but clinicians caution that evidence, infrastructure and access remain works in progress.

Roche Holding AG received CE Mark approval for its Elecsys Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) biomarker test, an in vitro diagnostic immunoassay to identify the ApoE4 gene variant from a blood sample. With APOE4 considered as the strongest genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease, the test provides a fast, reliable way to determine whether an individual carries the genetic variant without the need for DNA‑based genotyping.

G2Gbio Inc. secured a ₩20 billion (US$13.35 million) investment from Samsung Epis Holdings Co. Ltd. and a joint research and license agreement for two assets, including a long-acting obesity treatment, with subsidiary Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. March 16.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. reaped positive results from an open-label phase II study of repinatrabit (JNT-517) in adolescents with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare disease marked by the inability to break down the amino acid phenylalanine.

There is broad agreement that psychiatric diagnoses in their current form are not reflective of any underlying biology, and that this is one of the things hampering psychiatric drug development. “We are still fully reliant on descriptive diagnoses that yield heterogeneous patient cohorts,” Steve Hyman told the audience at the European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Roadmap Meeting on Precision Psychiatry in Amsterdam in January.

The BioWorld Neurological Diseases Index (BNDI) finished 2025 up 6.33%, continuing the gains seen through November (closing up 2.64%), after reaching a low in July when it was down 22.48%. By comparison, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) ended the year up 32.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 12.97%. In the first two months of 2026, the BNDI slipped 1.24%, compared with gains of 5.85% for the NBI and 1.9% for the DJIA.

Similarities among three pediatric brain tumors that arise in different structures of the CNS – pineoblastoma, retinoblastoma and Group 3 medulloblastoma – have been linked to their shared origin during pineal gland development. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified the molecular signatures that drive these tumors from pinealocyte progenitor cells that conserve a common differentiation program, providing a shared therapeutic target for these three cancer types.

Rapport Therapeutics Inc. added $20 million to its cash runway for its lead phase III oral seizure drug, RAP-219, through a potential $328 million license deal signed with Tenacia Biotechnology Co. Ltd.