Michael Wyand Investor Livestream: Why There's Still No FDA-Approved Drug for Concussion
Oxeia CEO Michael Wyand sat down for a live investor session to walk through the science behind OXE103, where the company stands clinically, and why, in 2026, there is still not a single FDA-approved drug to treat concussion.
He opened with a patient story. Tara Restivo tripped on a carpet, hit her head, and was sent home from the ER with a concussion diagnosis and the same instruction patients have heard for generations: rest and wait. When her symptoms didn't lift, the best a post-concussion clinic could offer was an exercise of staring at a squirrel out the window to retrain her vision. As Michael put it, that's the current state of the art.
On why concussion has gone untreated for so long:
"The brain is invisible to us. It's inside our skulls… concussion is the type of injury that is not associated with the types of damage that you can see with an X-ray machine or a CT scan. So it's even invisible to those types of devices."
On what happens in the brain after a concussion, he described the injury as draining the brain like a battery. The neurons fire all at once, energy collapses, and toxic reactive oxygen species build up and damage the cells. OXE103, a form of the naturally occurring hormone ghrelin, is designed to help the brain restore that energy, reduce the toxic load, and support the connections between cells that a concussion disrupts.
On the Phase 2a result:
"When we ran that study, we saw an 85% responder rate in the treated patients with OXE103 compared to a 33% response rate in the standard care. This actually was a very significant and robust response that we saw."
He also explained how Oxeia's license with Daiichi Sankyo gave the company access to a large existing data package, more than 300 patients treated with ghrelin across prior trials, an FDA-accepted open IND, and an estimated 5 to 7 years taken off early-stage development.
He closed on Phase 2b, the next major step: a multi-site, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 160 to 200 patients across the country, with a roughly 18-month timeline from start to data. Michael was clear about what the trial does and doesn't tell us. The Phase 2a pilot is proof of concept that justifies a larger study; it does not guarantee the drug will work at scale. That's what Phase 2b is designed to answer.
Oxeia is now raising on StartEngine to fund the Phase 2b trial.
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