Montara Therapeutics, Inc. (‘Montara’), a therapeutics company
aiming to revolutionize the discovery and development of
brain-targeting drugs, announced today the closing of an
oversubscribed $8 million seed financing led by SV Health
Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund and co-lead Two Bear Capital.
Dolby Family Ventures and KdT Ventures also participated in the
round.
Therapeutics for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s
disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS), and brain cancers must penetrate the
blood-brain barrier and be active against the target at the disease
site. However, many promising drug candidates fail to advance due
to dose-limiting on-target off-tissue peripheral side effects or
toxicities that compromise both safety and efficacy. These brain
diseases remain among the most significant unmet medical needs with
many important targets still considered undruggable.
To address this challenge, Montara is pioneering BrainOnly, a
platform designed to prevent on-target off-tissue peripheral side
effects or toxicities of existing and novel drugs to make
best-in-class and first-in-class therapies.
“The unmet medical needs of patients with neurodegenerative and
neurologic diseases and brain cancers are staggering. It’s well
understood that uncontrolled peripheral side effects or toxicities
associated with brain-targeting drugs are often the barrier to
promising treatments. We hope to eliminate this obstacle with our
BrainOnly platform, unlocking many previously undruggable
neurological targets and delivering a new generation of
neuroscience drugs that bring hope to patients and their families,”
said Nicholas T. Hertz, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer
of Montara. “This seed funding provides a critical springboard to
advance our internal pipeline toward the clinic and also enable
future partnerships.”
How the BrainOnly Platform Works
The BrainOnly platform enables the development of two-drug
combination therapies comprising a brain-penetrant target-specific
drug and a non-brain penetrant “universal” peripheral blocker.
Montara’s novel approach blocks the drug’s activity in the
periphery while simultaneously activating and concentrating its
activity in the brain. A two-drug combination approach has been
clinically validated for Parkinson’s disease by one approved pair,
carbidopa and levodopa, with additional programs in development.
However, until Montara, there has been no efficient and scalable
platform to systematically develop neuroscience drugs that can
avoid peripheral side effects or toxicities.
The BrainOnly platform is based on pioneering research from the
Shokat Lab at The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF),
and was published in Nature in 2022 (link to paper). The technology
is exclusively licensed from UCSF through its Office of Technology
Management and Advancement.
Use of Proceeds
With the seed funding, Montara is advancing its universal
peripheral blocker and a neurological disease-targeting drug with
proven clinical benefit but severe dose-limiting peripheral side
effects. Montara has also initiated chemistry on subsequent
programs for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. In connection
with this financing, Dirk Landgraf, Ph.D., Principal at SV, and J.
Seth Strattan, Ph.D., General Partner at Two Bear Capital, have
joined Montara’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Landgraf commented, “We are excited to have worked with the
Montara team on the creation of the company as a founding investor.
Montara’s approach is differentiated since it activates the drug in
the brain instead of using two drugs with counteracting effects on
the same target or pathway. Its mission to develop a brain-only
pharmacology platform has huge potential to bring safer and more
effective therapies to patients suffering from brain disorders like
Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. We look forward to
applying SV’s expertise in dementia drug development to support
Montara’s ongoing success via a close collaboration.”
Jenna Aronson, Ph.D., a Principal at Two Bear Capital and board
observer, stated, “We are honored to partner with this exceptional
team to address a truly fundamental problem in neuroscience drug
development. Toxicity from peripheral target engagement has
defeated many promising programs, even those with strong genetic
validation and good target engagement in the brain. Unlocking these
targets will change patients’ lives. We share Nick’s vision for
Montara and are dedicated to helping realize the potential of the
BrainOnly platform.”
Montara’s Founders
Montara was founded in 2023 by Nicholas T. Hertz, Ph.D., and
scientific co-founders: UCSF Professor Kevan Shokat, Ph.D., who
invented the covalent inhibition approach to target KRAS G12C, a
previously undruggable target, and co-founded many successful
biotechnology companies; Stanford University Professor Thomas
Südhof, M.D., who won the Nobel Prize for his research in vesicle
trafficking; and UCSF Professor Martin Kampmann, Ph.D., who has
conducted extensive research in aging-associated neurodegenerative
diseases. All of the scientific co-founders will serve on Montara’s
Scientific Advisory Board. Since the company’s founding, the
Dementia Discovery Fund has closely collaborated with Dr. Hertz on
the business plan and the corporate and pipeline strategy.
Prior to founding Montara, Drs. Hertz and Shokat collaborated to
found Mitokinin, which advanced a potential first-in-class
disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson's disease. In October
2023, Mitokinin was acquired by AbbVie for $110 million upfront and
up to $655 million in total deal value, in addition to tiered
royalties.
About Montara TherapeuticsMontara Therapeutics
is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing novel
approaches to develop safer and more efficacious treatments for
neurological diseases. Montara’s BrainOnly platform allows
brain-specific pharmacology utilizing existing and novel chemical
warheads, restricting deleterious on-target off-tissue peripheral
activity. BrainOnly holds the potential to drug numerous targets
previously considered undruggable. The company is backed by
top-tier investors, including SV Health Investors’ Dementia
Discovery Fund, Two Bear Capital, KdT Ventures, and Dolby Family
Ventures. For more information, visit montaratx.com
About The Dementia Discovery FundThe Dementia
Discovery Fund (DDF), managed by SV Health Investors, is the
world's largest family of specialized venture capital funds that
invests exclusively in companies developing or enabling novel
therapeutics for dementia. Dementias, including Alzheimer's
Disease, are arguably the largest unmet medical need, with over 55m
patients worldwide. With more than $500m raised for this strategy,
and offices in London and Boston, DDF capitalizes on
global investment opportunities to fulfill its mandate of
delivering measurable impact and generating significant financial
returns. Utilizing its network of venture partners, entrepreneurs,
leading scientists, and strategic partners, DDF invests
in and creates new biotech companies and provides thought
leadership in the field. DDF is enabled by its limited
partners including major pharmaceutical companies (Biogen, Bristol
Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Co., GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka
(Astex), Pfizer and Takeda), along with AARP, Aegon, Bill Gates,
British Patient Capital, NFL Players Association, Quest
Diagnostics, UnitedHealth Group, and the non-profits Alzheimer's
Research UK and LifeArc. Learn more at www.ddf.vc.
About Two Bear CapitalTwo Bear Capital was
founded in 2019 by Mike Goguen with a mission to empower visionary
entrepreneurs to build enduring, impactful companies while
benefiting society and delivering for investors. The Two Bear
team combines expertise in enterprise technology, cybersecurity,
AI, the life sciences, including where these domains intersect, to
invest in solutions that make a meaningful difference to markets
and to people. Together with the founders in the Two Bear
family we believe that the future we want is ours to build.
Two Bear Capital has offices in Menlo Park, San Diego, Boston, and
New York, with a home base in Whitefish, Montana. For more, visit
www.twobearcapital.com.
About Dolby Family VenturesDolby Family
Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage
companies and backing visionary entrepreneurs solving the biggest
science and engineering challenges across precision neuroscience,
life sciences platforms, aerospace, climate, and digital deep tech
since 2014. Over this time, Dolby Family Ventures has invested in
about 100 companies across these sectors. Learn more at
www.dolbyventures.com.
About KdT VenturesKdT Ventures is an
early-stage venture capital firm focused on the intersection of
biology, chemistry, and technology. Founded in 2017, KdT manages
$260M+ in committed capital, and has partnered with 55+
science-driven companies and founders across the life science,
healthcare, and chemical and materials industries. KdT is often the
first check into a company, and supports founders from the earliest
stages of company building and commercialization.
References
- Z. Zhang et al., 2022, Brain-restricted mTOR inhibition with
binary pharmacology, Nature, 609(7928):822-828
Media Contact:Liz Meloneliz@melonecomm.com