If it is now acknowledged the gut microbiota plays a role in the pathophysiology of depression, the specific biochemical mechanisms underlying this connection are hard to unpick and poorly understood.

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. Pepgen stock (NASDAQ:PEPG) closed at $12.89 per share May 6, up 7.4% on the day. Bausch & Lomb also had a solid IPO launch May 6 as shares (NYSE:BLCO) closed 11.1% upward at $20 each.

Little more than a month after selling a narcolepsy drug from its portfolio, Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc has replaced it with another. The company entered an exclusive development and commercialization rights agreement Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd.’s candidate for treating narcolepsy along with idiopathic hypersomnia and other sleep disorders. Sumitomo retains the rights for Japan, China and certain other Asia-Pacific countries and regions while Jazz gets the rights to everywhere else.

Researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have shown in mouse models that idiopathic autism could be caused by epigenetic abnormalities in hematopoietic cells during fetal development which resulted in immune dysregulation in the brain and gut.

Hypothermic therapy startup Tectraum Inc. has finished enrolling patients in a pivotal trial of its Pro2cool device for the treatment of concussion. The company expects to submit the results to the U.S. FDA to support regulatory clearance by the end of this year and commercially launch Pro2cool in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2023.