As neurological disease stocks begin to move in the right direction, and a potential U.S. FDA approval nears for a major depressive disease drug, shares are still down by 11.68% this year. BioWorld’s Neurological Diseases Index is following a similar path as the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI), which hit bottom at the end of May and has begun to climb since then. Still, NBI is down 15.92% this year, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 12.41%.

There is no drug that will halt the inevitable process of getting older each year. But biopharmaceutical research can have a positive impact on preventing diseases that come with aging, thereby extending life for the masses, and more importantly, extending quality of life. Part one of BioWorld’s multipart series on extending the human lifespan looks at the increasing development and investment in the space.

Amounts raised through biopharma financings in the second quarter are down by 61% since last year and are at the lowest point since 2017. The same holds true when looking at the first half of the year. Each of the prior four years raised more than this year by the end of June, signifying that investors are backing up after an intensely robust financing environment following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the feverish biopharma therapeutic and vaccine development that began in 2020.