Neurology

Private Company Edition: SV Health Investors revealed the final closing of its second Dementia Discovery Fund. Also, Eikon cut nearly 15% of its staff, Pathos AI raised $365m in series D venture capital and CellCentric completed a $120m series C round, among other financings.

The US FDA approval of Fujirebio’s Lumipulse should boost access to medicines like Eisai’s Leqembi and Lilly’s Kisunla; the firms are praising patients’ access to earlier diagnoses.

Autolus’s CAR T therapy obe-cel is among the medicines that are this week due for an opinion by the European Medicines Agency on whether they should be marketed in the EU.

Eisai spent most of its FY24 earnings call discussing plans for growing sales of Biogen-partnered Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi from JPY44.3bn ($304.1m) to JPY76.5bn ($525.1m) in FY25.

After publishing encouraging results from first-in-human trials of its brain-computer interface, Axoft announced plans to sell its BCI-enabling material Fleuron to researchers and private organizations for R&D use. The company sees this as a revenue stream and feedback loop to refine its BCI platform designed for safer, longer-lasting brain implants.

Teva underlined that it was “very pleased with this franchise we’re building and what we’ll bring to the care of patients with schizophrenia,” as it looks ahead to filing its olanzapine new drug application in the second half of 2025.

Rob Barrow's unconventional journey from finance to leading MindMed highlights his innovative approach to psychedelic medicine, aiming to transform mental health treatment with groundbreaking therapies.

Cutting-edge research is revolutionizing anxiety treatment by targeting specific brain circuits, paving the way for therapies that are free from side effects. This innovative approach promises more efficient and precise medicine, offering hope to millions of people living with anxiety.

While there might be different recipes for success in leadership, continuous learning and wide-ranging experiences have made Stefan König ready to lead Merz Therapeutics as CEO.

Neurotechnology start-up Subsense came out of stealth with $17m in seed funding to develop a nonsurgical, nanoparticle-based brain-computer interface. Medtech Insight spoke with the firm’s new neurotech lead Cyril Eleftheriou about the technology and its potentially wide applications for treating Parkinson’s, epilepsy, inner speech decoding, and more.

Novo Nordisk’s application seeking EU marketing approval to use its GLP-1 receptor agonist to treat cirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis is one of 15 new drug filings the European Medicines Agency has started reviewing. Meanwhile, Arrowhead’s filing for its familial chylomicronemia syndrome, plozasiran, is being fast tracked.

Cobenfy is approved as a monotherapy, but failed in the adjunctive setting when combined with generic atypical antipsychotics, giving BMS a second Phase III failure in two weeks.