In a week that saw Rockstar Games announce pre-orders for its latest entry to its crown jewel Grand Theft Auto franchise, NVIDIA could be getting set to render drug molecules just as it renders getaway cars and high-speed chases. This is the same NVIDIA that has made its fortunes through gaming chipsets and GPUs.
It is a pivot that says something about where the money is going, and about who is likely to reshape pharmaceutical R&D whether the industry is ready or not.
But before we get there, let’s first look at a molecule that has produced undeniable clinical evidence that psychedelics work. Definium called the Phase III results for its LSD derived therapy “unprecedented”, shares rose and analysts cheered what they called were the “best data in the psychedelics space”.
The Psychedelics Story Gets Brighter
Psychedelics, once dismissed as fringe medicine, are having their day in the sun. Multiple promising data readouts have been supercharged by an April executive order from US President Donald Trump aimed at accelerating psychedelic treatments for serious mental illness.
Definium Therapeutics, formerly known as Mind Medicine, was the latest to join in on the action. The New York-based firm showcased results from its EMERGE trial where its orally disintegrating formulation of lysergide (LSD), DT120, met the primary and all key secondary endpoints in the first of two pivotal Phase III studies in major depressive disorder (MDD). Participants receiving DT120 ODT 100 µg achieved a least-squares mean reduction of 13.3 points on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) at week 6, versus a 5.2-point reduction in the placebo arm, resulting in a placebo-adjusted difference of 8.1 points (p<0.0001).