Karuna Completes $42 Million Series A Financing Round to Advance Selective Muscarinic Receptor Agonist Program into Phase 2 S...
August 02 2018 - 2:00AM
Business Wire
Participants include ARCH Venture Partners,
Wellcome Trust, PureTech Health, Steven Paul M.D., and other
undisclosed investors
Karuna Pharmaceuticals, focused on targeting muscarinic
receptors for the treatment of disorders marked by psychosis and
cognitive impairment, today announced the completion of a $42
million Series A financing round, including the issuance of $22
million in shares upon conversion of debt into equity. Participants
included ARCH Venture Partners, the Wellcome Trust, Steven Paul
M.D., PureTech Health, and other undisclosed investors. Karuna
plans to use the proceeds from the financing to advance its lead
product candidate, KarXT (Karuna-xanomeline-trospium chloride), including the
initiation of a Phase 2 trial in patients with schizophrenia in the
third quarter of 2018 and the expansion into other therapeutic
areas, including a non-opiate pain indication.
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“Karuna has all of the characteristics we look for in a
game-changing CNS company. Its lead drug candidate has a unique
mechanism of action for treating both psychosis and cognition, as
well as an exciting non-opiate application for pain. These are
therapeutic indications where there is a profound need for new
treatments. We are excited about the clinical data that have
already been generated, and we look forward to helping to drive the
next chapter of growth,” said Robert Nelsen, Co-Founder and
Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners.
KarXT is designed to improve tolerability and unlock the
potential of muscarinic cholinergic receptor agonists that
selectively target M1/M4 muscarinic cholinergic receptors in the
brain while blocking their activation in tissues outside the brain.
Karuna is currently completing a second Phase 1 trial using a
proprietary co-formulation of xanomeline, a muscarinic agonist
Karuna exclusively licensed from Eli Lilly which showed compelling
efficacy in patients with schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease but
had peripheral cholinergic side effects, combined with trospium
chloride, a muscarinic antagonist that acts only in the periphery
(outside of the brain and central nervous system). The initial
Phase 1 trial demonstrated a significant and clinically meaningful
reduction in pre-specified cholinergic side effects with KarXT
compared to xanomeline alone. The Phase 2 trial in patients with
schizophrenia is designed to replicate and expand on previous
efficacy and safety data with xanomeline in schizophrenia and
Alzheimer’s disease.
“We greatly appreciate the support of our investors and their
confidence in the potential of KarXT to be the first new and highly
differentiated medicine in over 50 years for the treatment of
psychosis and cognitive impairment in psychiatric and neurological
disorders,” said Andrew Miller, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief
Executive Officer of Karuna. “We believe KarXT could be a promising
new treatment that safely and effectively addresses the
debilitating positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms of patients
living with schizophrenia and other central nervous system
disorders.”
About Karuna PharmaceuticalsKaruna is a clinical-stage
drug development company targeting muscarinic cholinergic receptors
for the treatment of psychosis and cognitive impairment across
central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including schizophrenia and
Alzheimer’s disease, as well as neuropathic pain. Karuna's lead
product candidate, KarXT, consists of xanomeline, a novel
muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist that has demonstrated
efficacy in placebo-controlled human trials in schizophrenia and
Alzheimer’s disease without the troubling sedative, metabolic, and
neurological side effects of currently prescribed antipsychotic
drugs, and trospium chloride, an FDA-approved and
well-established muscarinic receptor antagonist that has been shown
not to enter the central nervous system (CNS). Karuna has
demonstrated improved tolerability of KarXT vs. xanomeline in a
placebo-controlled human study and is currently conducting a Phase
1 trial using a proprietary co-formulation of xanomeline and
trospium chloride. A Phase 2 trial of safety and efficacy in people
with schizophrenia is expected to begin in the third quarter of
2018. Karuna, which was founded by PureTech Health (LSE:
PRTC), has a worldwide exclusive license for xanomeline and has a
patent portfolio more broadly covering selective muscarinic
targeting enabled by the KarXT approach. For more information,
visit www.karunapharma.com.
Forward Looking StatementThis press release contains
statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including
statements that relate to the company's future prospects,
developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are
based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results,
performance and achievements to differ materially from current
expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks and
uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the
regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These forward-looking
statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and
future business strategies of the company and the environment in
which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement
speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as
required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company
nor any other party intends to update or revise these
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180801006106/en/
InvestorsPureTech HealthAllison Mead Talbot or Shannon
Costello, +1 781-366-2457sc@puretechhealth.comorU.S.
mediaTen Bridge CommunicationsTom Donovan, +1
857-559-3397tom@tenbridgecommunications.com
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