In this episode of Raising Biotech, Surani delves into Arialys and its mission to revive an autoimmune encephalitis drug from the grave after big pharma no longer wanted it. The company founders are a bunch of venture capitalists (Avalon Ventures, MPM Capital & Catalys Pacific) who saw potential in pursuing the preclinical drug candidate -- raising a $58 million seed financing in September 2023 to take it into human testing.Surani speaks to CEO Jay Lichter (Avalon) about his background, success stories, how he stumbled across Astellas' drug (now ART5803) and why he was so impressed with preclinical data in non-human primate marmoset models. Marty Jefson, CEO of Pinteon Therapeutics, a veteran neuropsychiatry drug development executive, talks about the drug's potential to fit in the treatment paradigm and what convinced him to join the company's clinical advisory board. Also joining the podcast to give medical context on the drug's potential is Dr Leon Henderson MacLennan, medical advisor and co-founder, InThought. The experts discuss the drug's safety and efficacy considerations, clinical trial hurdles and potential for the drug to expand to other autoimmune psychosis conditions including schizophrenia. Jay talks about clinical trial plans ahead, his preferences when it comes to a future IPO vs M&A and what he thinks will be the key value driver for a company exit.Timestamps:For any comments, questions, feedback or suggestions you can connect directly with Surani Fernando on LinkedIn or email: [email protected]Music composed by: Yrii Semchyshyn (Coma Media) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.