BioCentury This Week Ep. 349 - Start-up Spotlight, Compounding Wegovy & Neuropysch
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Feb 10, 2026 Selina Koch, neuroscience and psychiatry editor who interviews industry leaders. Steve Usdin, policy analyst focused on FDA and biomedical funding. Danielle Golovin, analyst tracking Series A and VC trends. They discuss 2025 Series A stabilization and which modalities drew funding. They debate how compounded Wegovy affects innovation and cover Congress defending NIH budgets. They explore serendipity versus engineering in psychiatric drug discovery.
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Series A Funding Stabilized In 2025
- 2025 halted a four-year decline in Series A biotech financings and stabilized deal counts at ~146 rounds.
- Total Series A funding rose to $8.1 billion, the highest in three years with several mega-rounds.
Big Pharma And Large Syndicates Dominate Rounds
- Strategic investors like Eli Lilly and Novo Holdings led participation, each joining 11 Series A rounds.
- Syndicates grew: solo investors fell to 6% while five-plus investor syndicates rose to 56%.
Gene Therapy Sees Renewed Early-Stage Interest
- Small molecules remained the largest modality with antibodies and cell/gene following.
- Gene therapy interest resurged, driven by targeted delivery and vehicle innovation.