Eli Lilly Enters Psychedelics Field, Peptide Drugs Become Focus
This week's industry news: Eli Lilly acquires AtaiBeckley for $2.8 billion, deepening its neuroscience strategy and potentially prompting major pharma companies to follow in psychedelics R&D; HHS Secretary Kennedy promotes compounding of peptide drugs, raising safety concerns among the scientific community; the Ebola outbreak (Bundibugyo strain) in the Democratic Republic of Congo persists, with mixed vaccine strategies and experimental therapies entering clinical trials.
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Eli Lilly deepens neuroscience push
Eli Lilly's recent acquisition spree is not just focused on traditional assets. Last week, the pharma giant acquired$2.8 billiondeal for AtaiBeckley and its pipeline of psychedelic drug candidates for mental health conditions.
Someanalysts notethat Lilly's decisive move into psychedelics could prompt more pharma companies to invest in this area. But for Lilly, the core of this move is to broaden its neuroscience footprint.
This week, we published an interview with the company'sneuroscience presidentfocusing on its Alzheimer's disease programs and how Lilly is leveraging the success of its amyloid drug Kisunla to expand further.
Peptide drugs back in the spotlight
Months ago, we first reported on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to makepeptide drugsmore accessible. Since then, he has been paving the way to allow compounding pharmacies to resume producing these drugs, including placing memberslinked to the peptide industryon key FDA committees. The committee this week began atwo-day meeting。
on the matter. Unapproved injectable peptide drugs are surging in popularity among health influencers, who tout benefits for skin health, weight loss, and more. However, the move to relax restrictions on peptide drugs faces opposition from the scientific community because these drugs often lack clinical data on safety and efficacy.
Kennedy is no stranger to controversy. This week, we also looked at another contentious topic within the FDA—the ongoing public release of drug rejection letters, and thelatest batchof contents. Additionally, we excerpted pharma executives' comments on thebiggest challenges facing the industry.
Ebola outbreak continues to spread
One of the biggest challenges in the current Ebola outbreak is the strain type. Existing drugs and vaccines are effective against the Zaire strain, but the one currently ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo is the Bundibugyo strain.
Researchers are integrating existing tools and will soon provide Congolesefrontline healthcare workerswith a mixed vaccine—combining Merck's approved Zaire strain vaccine Ervebo with an experimental candidate developed against Sudan ebolavirus.
New therapies are also rapidly advancing to clinical trials. This week, we reviewed what is known aboutthese candidatesand explored whether they can effectively curb the spread of the current Ebola outbreak.