When the German major bought AskBio a couple of years ago, one of its assets was a gene therapy for Huntington’s, a devastating disease that leads to complete physical and mental deterioration. That asset, BV-101, is about to enter the clinic.

The world's expanding, aging population means diseases of the central nervous system, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are potential blockbuster areas for innovative pharma and biotech companies that are able to navigate clinical studies and get to market. Scrip looks at five emerging trends that are likely to affect the CNS drug development landscape in 2018.