Investors shy away from TBI drug funding
Even with the increasing awareness of the worldwide epidemic of Traumatic Brain Injury, investors still are not interested in investing in companies that are developing therapies for TBI. According to Harry Tracy, who runs Cardiff, Calif.-based NI Research, a consulting and research firm focused on the neurological and psychiatric therapeutics industry, the amount of mid to large size firms developing drugs for brain injuries range from “zero to maybe 5 or 10 percent.” He further proclaims that “there are some promising programs that have really suffered” for lack of funding and investment. Most are small biotech or specialty pharma companies. While the current wartime as raised awareness of TBI, the condition has been “very much underappreciated from a drug development perspective,” according to Larry Glass, U.S. CEO of Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd. More than 1.5 million cases of TBI are reported annually in the U.S according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and yet, “there have been virtually no big pharma efforts to develop drugs,” said Glass. While clinical development for TBI is complicated, uncertain and expensive, “the potential returns are phenomenal,” he concluded.
