Today, a brief rundown of news involving Sarepta Therapeutics and Neumora Therapeutics, as well as updates from Prothena, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Chai Discovery that you may have missed.

Sales of Sarepta Therapeutics' Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys totaled $282 million in the second quarter, down 25% from the previous three-month period but slightly above consensus estimates. Elevidys is newly back on the market for some Duchenne patients following an unusual standoff with the Food and Drug Administration that led to a brief pause in shipments. Analysts are unsure of its future prospects, however, citing safety concerns that could curtail demand among patients and physicians. Sales will likely "further decline between the second and third quarter," but beyond that "remains difficult to know," wrote Leerink Partners' Joseph Schwartz. — Ben Fidler

Neumora Therapeutics, a high-profile neuroscience biotech that raised over $800 million to develop drugs for the brain, is getting into obesity research. On Wednesday, the company announced it would prioritize obesity as the lead indication for a preclinical compound it calls NMRA-215. The company, which is conducting experiments of NMRA-215 in mice, aims to advance the drug into clinical testing early next year. “An increasing body of evidence supports the need for the role of centrally acting drugs to drive weight loss in obesity, and we believe our expertise in developing highly brain-penetrant chemistry will support our advancement into the field,” Neumora CEO Paul Berns said in a statement. — Ned Pagliarulo

Novo Nordisk will advance a Prothena drug for the heart condition transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy into late-stage testing. On an earnings call Wednesday, Novo said it will begin this year a Phase 3 program for coramitug, a Prothena drug Novo acquired in 2021. Prothena has earned $100 million through the deal so far, and could receive up to $1.2 billion overall, the company said Thursday. It is eligible for an unspecified milestone payment once certain enrollment criteria are met for the Phase 3 trial. — Ben Fidler

The FDA on Wednesday approved a Jazz Pharmaceuticals drug for a rare and aggressive type of brain cancer. The drug, which Jazz will sell as Modeyso, is cleared for treatment of adults and children 1 year of age or older who have diffuse midline glioma that tests positive for a specific mutation. Eligible patients must have progressive disease following prior therapy. Modeyso is the first treatment to reach market for this type of tumor, which is estimated to affect about 2,000 people in the U.S. each year. Jazz gained Modeyso via a $935 million dollar deal to acquire Chimerix earlier this year. — Ned Pagliarulo

AI-focused biotech startup Chai Discovery announced on Thursday a $70 million Series A round led by Menlo Ventures. The startup, one of many harnessing AI in a bid to speed drug development, uses computing tools to predict the way biochemical molecules interact with one another. It raised a nearly $30 million seed round from Thrive Capital, OpenAI, and Dimension last year. Former Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten joined Chai's board of directors alongside its latest funding. — Ben Fidler