As the average cost of new drug R&D continues to skyrocket, the perception around using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to boost drug discovery is changing. “Developing new AI-based drugs is a difficult task, not only for Korea but also for countries with leading AI technology,” Hyeyun Jung, principal researcher of Korea Health Industry Development Institute’s Center for Health Industry Policy, told the audience at the Bio Korea meeting on May 9. “But there is a change in perception; [namely that] applying AI to new drug development is not an option but a necessity.”

The EMA’s chief medical officer has expressed disquiet that Europe has fallen behind in the development of psychedelic drugs as approved therapies for mental disorders, saying they should be given “a second chance.”

The use of psychedelics is seeing impressive results in treating psychiatric disorders like treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and Mindbio Therapeutics Ltd. is expanding the field to include microdoses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to treat depression and premenstrual syndrome.

Philadelphia-based Latus Bio Inc., co-founded by serial biotech entrepreneurs P. Peter Ghoroghchian and Beverly Davidson, launched on May 2 with two lead adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy candidates and $54 million in a series A financing.

While Nrx Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s oral antidepressant NRX-101 failed, producing a not statistically significant 33% reduction in suicidality along with a 70% reduction in the symptoms of akathisia, the company said it plans to forge ahead and conduct a registrational study.

A readout of phase III data of buntanetap in Parkinson’s disease is up next as Annovis Bio Inc. tries to recover from the market’s reaction to mixed phase II/III results in Alzheimer’s disease. The company’s stock (NYSE:ANVS) dropped 60% when the data were released on April 29 and continued downward on April 30, with shares closing 23.5% lower at $5.57 each. The shares’ 12-month peak was on Dec. 27 at $19.54 each.

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA added heft to the data supporting evenamide, reporting positive top-line results from a phase II/III placebo-controlled trial of the glutamate inhibitor in patients with chronic schizophrenia who were receiving a second-generation antipsychotic, but having an inadequate response to that treatment.