The average kidney transplant recipient experiences kidney failure within 10 to 12 years after a transplant, putting them on a cycle that ends with kidney failure and a need for a new transplant. This cycle adds to strains on transplant recipients, payers, providers, and the healthcare system and taxes the limited supply of organs for transplantation. Eledon Pharmaceuticals is seeking to extend the functional life of transplanted organs while reducing the side effects of current immunosuppressive treatments with its experimental, first-in-class immunosuppressive therapy, Tegoprubart. We spoke to Steve Perrin, president and chief scientific officer of Eledon Pharmaceuticals, about the need for innovative approaches to immunosuppression in organ transplantation, how its experimental therapy works, and why it may also have benefits in autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases as well.

Antimicrobial resistance is projected to kill up to 10 million people a year by 2050. One particular area of concern is drug-resistant gonorrhea, where existing therapies are being exhausted. Taxis Pharmaceutics is developing therapies to combat evolving superbugs by targeting their cellular infrastructure and disrupting the mechanisms that fuel antimicrobial resistance. We spoke to Greg Mario, president and CEO of Taxis, about the public health threat posed by drug-resistant gonorrhea, the approaches it’s taking to develop new antimicrobial treatments, and the need for new funding models to bring new therapies to market.

Brain tumors are difficult to treat in part because of the blood-brain barrier, the need to protect healthy and sensitive tissue surrounding tumors, and the limits of existing therapies. While there have been great advances in other types of cancer, there’s been relatively little progress in treating these CNS tumors. Plus Therapeutic is developing targeted radiotherapies that provide high doses of radiation directly into the tumor with a catheter. The approach enables the delivery of higher doses of radiation while minimizing exposure to healthy brain cells. We spoke to Marc Hedrick, president and CEO of Plus Therapeutics, about the challenges of treating brain tumors, the limitations of current therapies, and why the company’s targeted radiotherapies have the potential to create better outcomes for patients.