Karuna Therapeutics and PsychoGenics Announce Drug Discovery Collaboration
July 28 2020 - 6:30AM
Business Wire
Multi-year drug discovery collaboration
leveraging behavioral and physiological phenotypic screening and
machine learning to identify novel neuropsychiatric drug
candidates
Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRTX), an innovative
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing
novel therapies with the potential to transform the lives of people
with disabling and potentially fatal neuropsychiatric disorders and
pain, and PGI Drug Discovery LLC (PsychoGenics), a phenotypic drug
discovery platform company, today announced that the companies have
entered a multi-year drug discovery and development agreement to
identify potential novel drug candidates for the treatment of
severe neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Karuna will provide an upfront
payment to PsychoGenics for access to its proprietary screening
platforms, which leverage computer vision and machine learning, to
discover novel neuropsychiatric treatments. Each party is eligible
to receive payments upon reaching pre-specified development,
regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as royalties on net
sales, for products developed under the agreement.
“PsychoGenics is a leader in preclinical behavioral neurobiology
with a successful track record of identifying novel drug candidates
for the treatment of serious and complex neuropsychiatric disorders
via its proprietary target-agnostic machine learning approach,”
said Steve Paul, M.D., chief executive officer, president and
chairman of Karuna Therapeutics. “We look forward to leveraging our
collective expertise in neuroscience and CNS drug discovery to
identify and evaluate new drug candidates to further enhance and
complement our pipeline of differentiated target-directed
neuropsychiatric drugs, including KarXT, our lead candidate in
development for the treatment of schizophrenia and dementia-related
psychosis.”
“Karuna’s established leadership team and demonstrated success
in neuropsychiatric drug discovery and development has put them at
the forefront of leading the next new generation of
neuropsychiatric treatments,” said Emer Leahy, Ph.D., chief
executive officer and president of PsychoGenics. “Together we share
a common vision of discovering novel drug candidates to treat
neuropsychiatric disorders. The collaboration with Karuna enables
us to continue to contribute to leading discoveries in the field of
neuroscience.”
About Karuna
Karuna is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed
to developing and delivering first-in-class therapies with the
potential to transform the lives of people with CNS disorders –
which remain among the most disabling and potentially fatal
disorders worldwide. Galvanized by the understanding that today’s
neuropsychiatric and pain management patients deserve better,
Karuna’s mission is to harness the untapped potential of the
brain’s complex biology in pursuit of novel therapeutic pathways
that will advance the standard of care. For more information,
please visit karunatx.com.
About PsychoGenics Inc. and PGI Drug Discovery LLC
PsychoGenics Inc. and its discovery arm PGI Drug Discovery LLC
(collectively known as PsychoGenics) have pioneered the translation
of rodent behavioral and physiological responses into robust,
high-throughput and high-content phenotyping. PsychoGenics’ drug
discovery platforms, SmartCube®, NeuroCube®,PhenoCube®, and eCubeTM
have been used in shared-risk partnerships with major pharma
companies including Sunovion and Roche, resulting in the discovery
of several novel compounds now in clinical trials or advanced
preclinical development. PsychoGenics' capabilities also include
standard behavioral testing, electrophysiology, translational EEG,
molecular biology, microdialysis and quantitative
immunohistochemistry. In addition, the company offers a variety of
in-licensed transgenic mouse models that support research in areas
such as Huntington’s disease, autism spectrum disorders,
psychosis/schizophrenia, depression, PTSD, Alzheimer’s disease,
Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, ALS, seizure disorders and
pain. For more information on PsychoGenics Inc., visit
www.psychogenics.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, including statements regarding our identification of
additional product candidates, the initiation and advancement of
our clinical trials and regulatory filings, our goals to develop
and commercialize product candidates, and other statements
identified by words such as “could,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,”
“plans,” “potential,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or similar
expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking
statements are not promises or guarantees of future performance,
and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of
which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results
to differ materially from those contemplated in such
forward-looking statements. These factors include risks related to
our limited operating history, our ability to obtain necessary
funding, our ability to generate positive clinical trial results
for our product candidates, the timing and scope of regulatory
approvals, changes in laws and regulations to which we are subject,
competitive pressures, our ability to identify additional product
candidates, risks relating to business interruptions resulting from
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and other risks set forth
under the heading “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2019. Our actual results could
differ materially from the results described in or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake
no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking
statements.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200728005227/en/
Karuna Contact Alexis Smith Investor Relations, Karuna
Therapeutics 518-338-8990 asmith@karunatx.com
PsychoGenics Contact Emer Leahy, Ph.D. President and CEO,
PsychoGenics Inc. 914-406-8008 emer.leahy@psychogenics.com
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