Neuropsychiatric disorders
Fueled by advances in biomarkers, brain mapping, and AI, investment in neuro and CNS innovation shows no signs of slowing, even amid costly setbacks. BioSpace spoke to investors at JPM26 to get their take on recent bets in new therapies and neurotech.
Reporting Q4 and full year earnings on Wednesday, J&J executives hailed growth across the healthcare giant’s portfolio while standing fast on its talc lawsuit and tariffs.
After a strong open to the year, the public markets suffered a six-month drought that led to biotech’s tightest IPO window in years.
The major depressive disorder failure for BHV-7000 is the drug’s second, after Biohaven’s spinocerebellar ataxia treatment troriluzole was rejected by the FDA in November 2025.
Coming up in the back half of December, the FDA will issue a verdict on Vanda Pharmaceuticals’ gastroparesis drug tradipitant, which it rejected last September, triggering a very public dispute with the company.
The R&D pipeline for depression therapies faced a demoralizing 2025 as five high-profile candidates, including KOR antagonists by Johnson & Johnson and Neumora Therapeutics, flunked late-stage clinical trials, underscoring the persistent challenges of CNS drug development.
After the FDA rejected its spinocerebellar ataxia treatment, Biohaven missed out on a $150 million payment from Oberland Capital. Now the company is reshuffling its pipeline to stay alive.
The mid-stage failure was unexpected to analysts at BMO Capital Markets, who viewed ‘770 as mostly derisked given its similar mechanism of action to Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato.
This represents Alector’s second failed neurodegenerative asset in a year, after an AbbVie-partnered asset missed in Alzheimer’s last November. On latozinemab for frontotemporal dementia, Alector was working with GSK, which fronted $700 million in 2021 to collaborate on two programs.
The company is dropping its social anxiety disorder program but will still test the molecule in post-traumatic stress disorder.
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