Spinogenix adds Phase IIb autism study to CLARITY basket trial. The trial marks Spinogenix's first study in autism, assessing the oral compound's effects on sensory, emotional and cognitive symptoms. Spinogenix has broadened its ongoing Phase IIb/III CLARITY basket trial to include a Phase IIb study of codabakalner (SPG601) in idiopathic autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The trial marks the biopharmaceutical firm's first study in autism, assessing the oral compound's effects on sensory, emotional and cognitive symptoms. It is backed by grant funding from the FRAXA Research Foundation, previously focused on Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Rather than relying purely on behavioural observations, the new autism cohort will select participants through a biomarker-enriched recruitment method. Patients with idiopathic ASD will be screened via electroencephalogram (EEG) and enrolled if they exhibit heightened resting gamma band power. This inclusion strategy relies on research conducted jointly by Spinogenix and Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The study examined resting-state EEGs from 159 individuals with autism alongside 41 males aged 13 and older diagnosed with full-mutation FXS. Investigators identified the FXS-like brain signature in 22% of the overall autism cohort (35 out of 159) and in 31.9% of adult participants (23 out of 72). Across 27 clinical evaluations assessing adaptive function, behaviour, social responsiveness, and IQ, no clinical measures distinguished this subgroup after statistical correction, indicating that standard clinical evaluations alone cannot detect the population. Spinogenix CEO and founder Dr Stella Sarraf said: "For over two decades, autism drug trials have enrolled a highly diverse population as if it were one condition, testing promising medicines in many people who may not have the biology those medicines target. Fragile X gave Clinical Trials Arena a measurable brain signature, and codabakalner is a potential first-in-class medicine that engages it. "CLARITY takes what we have learned in Fragile X and uses EEG to find the people with autism who share that biology and may experience therapeutic benefit in symptoms, including impaired executive function and heightened anxiety. We believe this is a fundamentally new way to develop autism therapeutics." Codabakalner functions as a positive modulator of BK channels. In a prior Phase IIa study published in Scientific Reports, the therapy lowered resting gamma power and led to notable gains in selective attention and executive function among adult males with FXS. FXS represents a primary inherited source of intellectual disability and a prominent genetic contributor to autism. Codabakalner has secured orphan drug and fast track designations from the FDA, alongside orphan status from the EMA, specifically for FXS. The Phase IIb study also integrates elements of the IMPACT framework, which combines deep phenotyping, genomic analysis, and EEG biomarkers. Spinogenix develops therapies targeting neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Alongside codabakalner for autism and FXS, the company's clinical pipeline features tazbentetol, which is under assessment for Alzheimer's disease, ALS, and schizophrenia. Give your business an edge with its leading industry insights.

America's well-being falls, but communities are rewriting the future. Local well-being data reveals how communities can reverse decline and rebuild hope across America. Gallup and The Rippel Foundation report just 48.1% of Americans are thriving and hope is at a record low. See how 14 communities are changing course. American well-being has fallen to levels not seen in more than a decade, and hope about the future has dropped to its lowest point since Gallup began tracking it in 2008. Yet a new report released today by Gallup and The Rippel Foundation argues that decline is not destiny. Across the country, communities are already using well-being data to understand local conditions, bring residents and leaders together, and chart a different course. The report, Thriving Together in America: Trends, Discoveries, Community Action, and Advice for Leaders, draws on Gallup's national well-being data plus insights from practitioners working to reverse the slide. It paints a sobering picture of the nation's present trajectory - but additionally highlights local efforts that show how communities can strengthen the vital conditions that support thriving. Well-Being is falling - and hope is falling with it. Gallup finds that just 48.1% of U.S. adults were "thriving" in the third quarter of 2026, down more than 10 percentage points from the 2021 peak and approaching historic lows. Hope - measured by expectations for future life - stands at 59.4%, essentially unchanged from last year's all-time low. The declines are not evenly distributed. Young adults ages 18 to 29 have experienced the sharpest deterioration: from the highest-thriving age group in 2010 (64%) to the lowest in 2026 (44%). Thriving levels have also converged across racial and ethnic groups, but the convergence reflects broad declines rather than shared improvement. Place is still a powerful determinant. Some counties approach 70% prospering while others hover near or below 40%, underscoring how national averages may obscure the actual realities shaping people's lives. "The report's data confirm what we already know: division, othering, and turning away from each other are bad for our well-being," said Becky Payne, President and CEO of The Rippel Foundation. "The steep declines are a clarion call, but in no way a verdict on our future." Communities already changing the trajectory. The report profiles 14 communities using well-being measurement not simply to document challenges but to guide action. Their experiences point to a shared lesson: data becomes most powerful when assessed alongside resident knowledge and used to inform decisions over time. In Greater Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center partnered with Gallup to build one of the nation's most comprehensive regional well-being measurement systems. The data now informs decisions on food security, youth well-being, and juvenile justice - demonstrating how granular insights shall shape policy and investment. "Community measurement isn't just about tracking a number; it's about giving leaders and residents a shared, more granular perspective of their own conditions," said Dan Witters, Research Director of the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index. That shared perspective, he said, helps communities move from a general sense of decline to specific, actionable priorities. "Well-being data can be both a mirror on the past and a map toward a better future," added Bobby Milstein, Director of System Strategy at The Rippel Foundation. Four drivers of thriving. The report identifies four drivers that shape whether communities thrive: * Belonging and civic muscle - Opportunities for people to show up for one another strengthen connection to place. * Vital conditions - From food and water to humane housing and social connection, these necessities form the foundation for long-term well-being. * Fairness in systems - Redesigning systems so opportunity is not determined by identity or starting point. * Effective urgent services - Meeting immediate needs without allowing emergency responses to crowd out long-term solutions. Communities aligning around these drivers are already showing measurable gains. But the report stresses that no single institution - not government, philanthropy, business, or health systems - can create these conditions alone. Progress requires cross-sector coordination and a common understanding of what residents need. A call to measure, learn, and act. The report urges leaders to begin by measuring well-being locally - not to produce a scorecard, but to start a conversation. Sustained improvement, it argues, will come from communities learning from one another, acting on what they find, and coordinating across sectors. The full report, Thriving Together in America: Trends, Discoveries, Community Action, and Advice for Leaders, is available here.

$463M UCHealth Memorial Hospital North Expansion: UCHealth breaks ground in Colorado Springs. Home " Buildings " Hospital " $463M UCHealth Memorial Hospital North Expansion: UCHealth breaks ground in Colorado Springs. Published on Oct 14, 2026 UCHealth broke ground on October 13 on a $463 million expansion of Memorial Hospital North in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Memorial Hospital North expansion will add a six-story inpatient tower, new operating rooms and an 875-space parking garage, lifting capacity from 140 to 190 beds. Renovations are scheduled to finish by summer 2029. The nonprofit UCHealth system says the UCHealth Memorial Hospital North expansion will take about three years and add roughly 300 employees to a current workforce of about 1,200. In addition, officials point to sustained demand. Between 2020 and 2025, hospitalizations at the Briargate campus rose 25 percent, emergency department visits climbed 41 percent and surgeries grew 59 percent. Similar capacity pressure sits behind the $365 million Cincinnati Children's Liberty Campus expansion in Liberty Township, Ohio, which has now moved from announcement into detailed design. As of March 2026, design team member KFI reported that construction documents were under way, with early work packages issued for parking lots, an ambulatory garage, a helipad and underground utilities. The design team now describes a six-story addition with three floors of dedicated inpatient beds, a larger scope than the four-story addition first announced in January 2025. UCHealth Memorial Hospital North Expansion cost rises to $463 million. UCHealth first unveiled the project in its December 2024 announcement, when the estimate stood at $407 million. That plan covered nearly 330,000 square feet of new construction, roughly the floor area of five and a half football fields, with about 45 percent slated for immediate build-out and the remainder shelled for future growth. The figure presented at the groundbreaking is $463 million. Therefore, the UCHealth Memorial Hospital North expansion now sits $56 million, or about 14 percent, above the earlier estimate. Phase one covers four new operating rooms, which brings the hospital to 14, along with recovery rooms, 12 additional emergency department exam rooms and a remodeled kitchen and cafeteria. Four more operating rooms are planned in a later phase, for an eventual total of 18. The six-story tower, which will rise on the west side of the campus, now belongs to phase two. According to UCHealth Southern Region President and CEO Lonnie Cramer, the tower will add 50 beds, taking the hospital from 140 to 190, with room to grow to 320 in the future. The garage schedule has also moved. The 2024 plan called for a six-level garage with groundbreaking in early 2025 and completion in 2027. Under the current plan, the covered garage on the east side of the campus is scheduled to break ground in December 2026 and open in spring 2028, making it the first new feature of the UCHealth Memorial Hospital North expansion to come online. JE Dunn Construction builds the Memorial Hospital North Expansion around live operations. JE Dunn Construction is the general contractor, returning to a campus it built two decades ago. Site general superintendent Tony Scovel, who worked on the original hospital, said the land was an open field when crews arrived in 2006. Work began in May 2026 with the relocation of existing utilities, according to JE Dunn Vice President Jason Oltman. That preparatory work supports a vertical addition that will sit atop the hospital's existing Sterile Processing Department. Furthermore, Oltman said the central challenge is building without disrupting daily operations, so that staff can keep caring for patients throughout the three-year build. Scovel said that 200 to 300 workers will be on site at the height of activity. He added that 3D modeling now helps crews plan the work far more efficiently than was possible in 2006. On the engineering side, Specialized Engineering Solutions has reported that it is working with design firm Perkins & Will on the project. Its scope covers mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering, plus phased upgrades to the central utility plant, which currently serves the hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado and four medical office buildings. Design-stage targets reported by the firm include LEED Silver equivalency and an Energy Star rating of 80 or higher. Capacity pressure shapes the Memorial Hospital North Expansion. Cramer said the hospital's medical and surgical units averaged 94 percent occupancy last year and frequently reached 100 percent. As a result, patients are often held in the emergency department or in recovery until beds become available. UCHealth expects the added capacity to reduce wait times. Memorial Hospital North opened in 2007 as a community hospital and has since been expanded twice. The 2018 work enlarged the emergency department and added operating rooms, while the 2019 addition brought a birth center, pharmacy and oncology services. Meanwhile, Children's Hospital Colorado, which opened on the same campus in 2019, announced its own major expansion in September 2026. That project will add inpatient beds, increase surgical capacity and enlarge its emergency department. UCHealth operates 15 acute-care hospitals across Colorado, including four in the Pikes Peak region. Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC President and CEO Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer described the UCHealth Memorial Hospital North expansion at the ceremony as a major long-term investment in the community. More than 100 people attended, including elected officials and local fire and police chiefs. Project overview. * Project Name: UCHealth Memorial Hospital North Expansion * Owner: UCHealth * Location: Briargate area, Colorado Springs, Colorado * Project Type: Hospital expansion including inpatient tower, surgical suite, emergency department, laboratory and parking garage * Project Value: $463 million (up from $407 million announced in December 2024) * Bed Capacity: 140 beds today, rising to 190 with the tower, expandable to 320 * Inpatient Tower: Six stories, west side of campus, adds 50 beds, phase two * Operating Rooms: Four added in phase one for a total of 14, with four more planned for a total of 18 * Emergency Department: 12 additional exam rooms * New Construction: Nearly 330,000 square feet (December 2024 plan) * Parking: Covered garage with 875 spaces, east side of campus * Status: Groundbreaking held October 13, 2026; utility relocation under way since May 2026 * Garage Schedule: Groundbreaking December 2026, completion spring 2028 * Target Completion: All renovations by summer 2029 * Jobs: About 300 new employees; 200 to 300 construction workers at peak Project team. Owner and Developer Contractors Design Team * Architect: Perkins & Will (reported by its engineering partner; not confirmed in groundbreaking coverage; official website not verified) * MEP, Fire Protection and Utility Plant Engineering: Specialized Engineering Solutions * Civil, Structural and Interior Design: Not publicly disclosed Public Bodies and Campus Partners * Civic Supporter: Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC (official website not verified) * Adjacent Campus Partner: Children's Hospital Colorado (official website not verified) Related Project: Cincinnati Children's Liberty Campus * Owner: Cincinnati Children's * Construction Partner: Messer Construction * Architect: GBBN Architects (official website not verified) * Design Team Member: HKS (official website not verified) * Design Team Member: KFI Engineers * Design Team Member: THP Limited (official website not verified) * Design Team Member: Kleingers Group (official website not verified)