Institutional investors are not in the market for now, but a survey of 104 firms on both sides of the Atlantic shows all but 6% have an interest in psychedelic medicines. However, only 23% say they are “very likely” to invest in the sector in the future, whilst the majority are sitting on the fence.
After 50 years of censorship, there is now growing pressure on EU policymakers to stand up and play a role in promoting the development of psychedelics as medicines and in preparing the ground to ensure equitable access once there are approved products.
The British Museum in London, steeped in history and tradition, sits alongside world class biomedical and clinical research centers, where numerous technological advances and scientific breakthroughs have originated. “This unique combination of tradition and innovation […] also defines our industry today,” said Rivki Stern, co-founder and CEO of Shortwave Pharma Inc., which is working to develop psychedelic drugs as approved medicines that meet unmet medical needs of patients with treatment-resistant depression, addictions and eating disorders.
To date the use of robots in nursing has been limited to getting them to fetch and carry supplies, take samples to the lab, remotely measure temperatures, or maybe provide social stimulation. Now in Laakso Hospital, Helskini, Finland, a robot is getting hands on to patients on a stroke ward, in a three-month pilot designed to assess which of 350 tasks in a nurse’s job description it is best suited to perform.
Three years after stopping development in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, Genfit SA and partner Ipsen Pharma SA have announced positive phase III data for elafibranor in the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and are preparing to file for U.S. FDA and EMA approval.
Vesalius Biocapital Partners Sàrl has called a first close on its fourth fund at €95 million (US$103 million) and now is targeting a total of €150 million, with new investors to be accepted on a "rolling closing" basis until the final close in 2024.
Scientists in the U.K. have reacted with dismay to the announcement that the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) is to close, 22 years after it was set up to coordinate the efforts of industry, government research agencies and medical charities that sponsor and fund clinical trials.
A method for manufacturing graphene which significantly increases its electrochemically active surface area holds the potential to reduce the cost and increase the accuracy of biosensors and could provide the basis for amplification-free, label-free and enzyme-free in vitro diagnostics.
Twelve years on from spinning out of Philips Healthcare, Tagworks Pharmaceuticals BV has raised $65 million in a series A round to take a new generation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) based on click chemistry into the clinic.
With its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) drug, vamorolone, under U.S. FDA review, Santhera Pharmaceutical AG has signed a $231 million-plus-royalties North America commercialization deal with Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc.
