IPOs continue to be sluggish but two companies, Pepgen Inc. and Bausch & Lomb Corp., that began trading May 6 managed to sidestep the turbulence despite having to lower their expectations before the market opened.
Not long ago, people who touted the prospects of psychedelic drugs might have been accused of hallucinating, but in the U.S. and elsewhere the space has expanded in recent years, as mental health treatments remain “stuck where cancer was 50 years ago,” said Roth analyst Elemer Piros.
Pfizer Inc. is taking over Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. for $11.6 billion to bring aboard Nurtec ODT (rimegepant), the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist first approved in February 2020 for acute migraine in adults with or without aura.
Aspen Neuroscience Inc. has closed a series B financing of $147.5 million. The funds will help get its autologous neuron replacement candidate into a phase I/IIa study for Parkinson’s disease. Privately held Aspen has been talking about initiating the phase I/IIa clinical trial since at least 2019. But in April 2022, it came a lot closer to reality. That’s when the company launched its first patient screening studies at several sites in the U.S. Now, the trial-ready cohort study is designed to screen potential participants for the study.