Neumora’s once-daily oral kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonist navacaprant succeeded in a Phase II trial and will move into the first of three Phase III studies soon, with a US filing targeted for 2025.

Neuroscience and oncology fuel high hopes for therapeutic R&D progress among 90-plus surveyed biopharma industry leaders.

Already partnered on antibody-drug conjugates and a Phase III breast cancer candidate, Merck could pay up to $9.3bn under its third pact in 2022 with Kelun. Eisai divests Fycompa to Catalyst.

Combining biological insights with data science, the start-up emerges from stealth mode after two years of assembling its technology platform and R&D pipeline based on internal and external know-how.