Weekly Rundown: Biogen pushes anti-tau drug into Phase 3 after endpoint miss Psychedelic acquisitions, clinical trial updates, and more led the news this week. Written byDDN editorial team

Weekly Rundown: Biogen pushes anti-tau drug into Phase 3 after endpoint miss Psychedelic acquisitions, clinical trial updates, and more led the news this week. Written byDDN editorial team https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/weekly-rundown-biogen-pushes-anti-tau-drug-into-phase-3-after-endpoint-miss-17334?utm_campaign=DDN_Newsletter_Dose&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_sK8zS5Oq0Bc32SLsxkXnMzIFGXNWdTPxZ4YPgbfSfwN4sZT4_8ZkKGLtf7LxG7QbmixhqC9_2vTqNzNylt43Zm6lxTQ&_hsmi=428888569&utm_content=428888569&utm_source=hs_email Biogen's tau-targeting investigational antisense oligonucleotide therapy diranersen failed its primary Phase 2 endpoint of demonstrating a dose-dependent reduction in brain tau, dropping the company's shares by around eight percent. However, the drug still showed enough promise to propel it into late-stage testing. Data from the CELIA trial presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London showed that all three doses outperformed placebo after 18 months, although the lowest 60mg dose produced the strongest results. That arm slowed decline on the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) scale by 26 percent and delivered consistent reductions in brain tau, marking the first Phase 2 evidence that a drug can remove toxic tau tangles in people with Alzheimer's disease. Despite the failed primary endpoint and questions over the dose-response findings, the company plans to advance diranersen into Phase 3, with the cognitive signal and tau reductions offering a potential new approach alongside approved amyloid-targeting therapies. – Bree Foster