Technical challenges and lackluster investor sentiment about the near-term commercial potential of cell and gene therapies in neurological disorders may be holding the field back.

Public Company Edition: Galderma proposed pricing for its $2.6bn Swiss public market debut. Also, Apogee and Akero lead follow-on offerings with $483m and $366.9m, respectively, and Lexicon’s private placement brings in $250m, while Spruce reveals a 21% workforce reduction.

Pipeline is concentrated around Phase II, but sponsors have a few chances to see how FDA handles its ‘foundational constructs’ for psychedelic drugs, led by Lykos’ pending NDA for PTSD and Compass Pathways’ Phase III synthetic psilocybin COMP360 for treatment-resistant depression.

More than 75 industry executives and experts gazed into the crystal ball and shared with Scrip their predictions around transformative technologies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, AI was the dominant theme – but gene editing, cell therapies and new targeting modalities were also among the highlights.