Cerevance takes funding haul to $98m to fight Parkinson’s and other CNS disorders
Proceeds will support an upcoming Phase 3 clinical trial for CVN424, a first-in-class non-dopamine therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease, plus the advancement of a pipeline of novel treatments for other CNS disorders. These include Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia.
The latest financing has been led by Agent Capital, Bioluminescence Ventures, and Double Point Ventures, with participation from new investors MQB Partners and LifeRock Ventures and existing backers Gates Frontier, GV (Google Ventures) and Lightstone Ventures.
Campbell Murray, Partner at Agent Capital, and Kouki Harasaki – Founder and Managing Partner at Bioluminescence Ventures – have joined the Cerevance board.
“The support from new and existing investors underscores the ongoing advancements made by Cerevance,” said Cerevance CEO Craig Thompson. “This upcoming year marks a crucial phase as we embark on the Phase 3 clinical trial for our flagship therapy, CVN424, and continue in discovering innovative, precision CNS treatments that will enrich our extensive pipeline.”
Campbell Murray added: “There is a clear need for groundbreaking, innovative therapies for Parkinson's disease. We are confident that Cerevance's lead program, CVN424, holds promise in delivering significant benefits to individuals.
“We look forward to working with this talented management team and distinguished board of directors to further advance the development of new therapies for patients with CNS disorders."
The company’s NETSseq (Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing) platform is a powerful tool that pinpoints uniquely expressed, novel target proteins, which may be exclusive to particular brain circuits or exhibit altered expression levels in diseased brains.
Cerevance has tackled one of the most significant hurdles in CNS drug discovery – the identification of novel, highly specific targets – and devised a clinically proven approach for target discovery and subsequent drug development.
The company is advancing a robust and expanding pipeline of clinical and preclinical programs, including the lead program, CVN424, a first-in-class, oral, non-dopaminergic compound acting on a novel target (GPR6).
Currently undergoing Phase 2 evaluation as a monotherapy for patients with early Parkinson’s disease yet to receive any Parkinson’s medications, CVN424 holds promise not only in alleviating motor fluctuations more effectively than existing oral therapies but also in potentially improving non-motor symptoms without the adverse effects associated with current treatments.
In parallel, Cerevance is advancing CVN293 which targets KCNK13 for the potential treatment of neurodegenerative conditions such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and frontotemporal dementia.
Topline data from the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial is expected in Q2 2024. The company’s earlier-stage pipeline includes multiple first-in-class opportunities in preclinical development, including programs focused on disease modification in Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Utilising a large and growing repository of over 15,000 human brain tissue samples, Cerevance is generating an unprecedented level of expression and epigenetic data thereby enabling the company to identify the most promising targets for the next generation of treatments for CNS disorders.
The company uses the NETSseq platform and advanced machine learning techniques to uncover the gene expression profiles of select cell types to identify novel targets that are uniquely expressed in relevant circuits affected by diseases or are altered in disease states.
With the information obtained from its research, combined with the expertise of its team of scientists and drug developers, Cerevance is advancing multiple therapeutics through clinical development, with CVN424, CVN766, and CVN293 being the furthest along in the pipeline.
