Karuna Announces $68 Million Series B Financing

Boston-based Karuna Therapeutics, focused on the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders including psychosis in schizophrenia, psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease, and pain, has announced the completion of a $68 million Series B financing round, including the issuance of $5 million in shares upon conversion of debt into equity.

KarXT, Karuna’s lead product candidate, is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial as a potential treatment for acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the development of KarXT into several new indications, including geriatric psychosis and pain, progress new formulations of KarXT, expand the pipeline, and continue to build company infrastructure.

“Patients living with schizophrenia often must choose among treatment options that only partly address their disabling psychotic and cognitive symptoms, often with undesirable side effects. Karuna’s mission is to deliver a more effective and better-tolerated treatment for this large and underserved patient population. We believe this financing will enable us to deliver multiple milestones across our product-focused pipeline while expanding the capabilities and potential of our muscarinic receptor platform,” said Steve Paul, M.D., chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Karuna.

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, and trospium chloride, an FDA-approved and well-established muscarinic receptor antagonist that has been shown not to enter the central nervous system. KarXT is designed to preferentially target M1/M4 muscarinic receptors in the brain while inhibiting their stimulation in peripheral tissues to significantly improve tolerability. KarXT is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with schizophrenia experiencing acute psychosis, with top-line results anticipated at the end of 2019.

Karuna is a clinical-stage drug development company focused on targeting muscarinic cholinergic receptors for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders including psychosis in schizophrenia, psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease, and pain. Karuna, which was founded by PureTech Health, has a worldwide exclusive license for xanomeline and has a patent portfolio more broadly covering selective muscarinic targeting enabled by the KarXT approach. (Source: Karuna Therapeutics Website, 18 March, 2019)