The PureTech Health-founded entity believes it has made a significant step forward in the treatment of schizophrenia with its muscarinic-receptor acting agent KarXT, which could offer a completely new way to address all three symptom domains of the disease.

The market for new company creation in the biopharma sector remains healthy and poised to continue fostering the establishment of start-ups, based on a new In Vivo study of the strong initial investments that pharma and biotech companies receive.

PureTech’s LYT-100 has failed to show benefit over placebo in long COVID, and raised doubts about how treatable the condition is – in contrast to the drug’s other potential use in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

The family-owned German group is the market leader in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with Ofev but the big-selling drug has significant side effects and only slows, but does not stop, the progression of the disease. It is hoping that the Phase III-ready compound BI 1015550 will offer a significant improvement.