WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Neumora Therapeutics, Inc. (Neumora), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering precision medicines for brain diseases through the integration of data science and neuroscience, today announced an exclusive, worldwide license agreement and a research collaboration with Vanderbilt University’s Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD). Through the license agreement, Neumora gains the worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the novel M4 muscarinic receptor positive allosteric modulator (PAM) program discovered in the labs of Craig W. Lindsley, Ph.D., director of Vanderbilt’s WCNDD, and Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., director emeritus. The agreement includes two novel series of compounds in late preclinical development that have demonstrated robust activity in preclinical efficacy models, as well as high selectivity for the M4 receptor subtype, potential for an improved safety profile compared to other compounds in this class, and an oral once-daily dosing profile.
“We founded Neumora with the intention of building a leading global precision neuroscience company to revolutionize the treatment of brain diseases. To date, we have rapidly scaled our pipeline targeting a broad range of underserved neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases,” said Paul L. Berns, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Neumora. “This agreement with Vanderbilt allows us to further expand our pipeline with a clinically validated approach and novel series of compounds to treat schizophrenia, a debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder for which current treatments remain inadequate. We believe that applying our precision neuroscience approach will allow us to uniquely develop a novel precision medicine from this M4 program for neuropsychiatric disorders.”
“Muscarinic receptor-targeting compounds have achieved clinical validation as a novel approach to treating schizophrenia, with the potential to treat other neuropsychiatric disorders such as dementia-related psychosis and cognitive disorders, where innovation has been stagnant for decades,” said John M. Kane, M.D., professor and chairman, Department of Psychiatry at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. “The development of novel treatments for schizophrenia has been challenged by the heterogeneous nature of the disease. Dissecting this heterogeneity with prognostic and predictive approaches, such as through the identification and use of novel biomarkers, digital tools and patient phenotyping, offers the potential to light new paths forward for the treatment of schizophrenia.”
The research collaboration will support ongoing preclinical work at WCNDD to advance backup series of highly selective M4 receptor PAMs. Neumora is progressing the lead series toward the nomination of a development candidate. Neumora plans to develop the M4 receptor modulator program for the treatment of schizophrenia by leveraging its proprietary data science platform, designed to identify and define targeted patient populations.
“A growing body of evidence supports the role of M4 muscarinic receptors in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that M4 receptor activation through selective positive allosteric modulation can result in antipsychotic-like efficacy with the potential for improved safety over current antipsychotics and other non-selective agonist approaches,” said Craig W. Lindsley, Ph.D., director of Vanderbilt’s WCNDD. “Our lab at WCNDD has been a pioneer in the discovery of novel drug candidates targeting the muscarinic receptor system with the potential to treat a range of central nervous system disorders. We believe Neumora is the optimal collaborator to further develop and commercialize this program given the world-class team and unique capabilities that Neumora has built integrating data science and neuroscience drug development expertise.”
About Neumora
Neumora Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering precision medicines for brain diseases through the integration of data science and neuroscience. Neumora is redefining neuroscience research and development with a data-driven precision neuroscience platform to cut through brain disease heterogeneity to match the right patient populations to targeted therapeutics. Neumora’s precision data science platform integrates multiple data types to define patient subtypes through the development of Data Biopsy Signatures™ and Precision Phenotypes™. Neumora is relentless in its commitment to discovering, developing and commercializing targeted therapies for people living with brain diseases. Neumora has operations in the Greater Boston Area and South San Francisco. For additional information, please visit www.neumoratx.com and follow us on Twitter: @NeumoraTx.
