About 500,000 people suffer from a spinal cord injury each year. Treatments can involve surgical procedures to stabilize the spine and physical rehabilitation, which can have limited benefits. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies that can promote repair and improve function following a spinal cord injury. NervGen Pharma is seeking to change that by developing therapies that allow the nervous system to repair itself. We spoke to Mike Kelly, CEO of NervGen, about the potential for using therapies designed to allow the nervous system to repair itself, how the company’s lead experimental candidate for spinal cord injury works, and why the same approach holds promise in treating a range of neurodegenerative diseases.