Trospium Chloride

In another sign of life for biotech IPOs, MapLight Therapeutics successfully made its public debut on Sunday evening, raising more than $250 million as it advances a potential rival to Bristol Myers Squibb's muscarinic agonist, Cobenfy (xanomeline/trospium chloride).The company sold 14.8 million shares at $17 each, in-line with its proposed offering earlier this month. MapLight also brought in an additional $8.1-million private placement from Goldman Sachs, for a total raise of $258.9 million. Investors seemed to welcome the newly public company — the first to IPO in the fourth quarter, and only the second new entrant on NASDAQ since mid-February — as its shares climbed about 13% during its first day of trading on Monday. MapLight's debut follows that of LB Pharma's in September, which broke a seven-month IPO dry spell. The success of the two companies — which both have mid-stage schizophrenia candidates — during a dearth of debuts suggests that investors are keen on new neuropsychiatric drugs, and that being sufficiently advanced in the clinic is a must. Muscarinic comeback?While LB Pharma's asset, LB-102, is a methylated derivative of second-generation antipsychotic drug amisulpride, MapLight's lead candidate, ML-007C-MA, is an M1/M4 muscarinic agonist co-formulated with a peripherally acting anticholinergic. The experimental therapy has a similar mechanism of action as Cobenfy, which last year became the first approved muscarinic-targeting drug for schizophrenia — but it hasn't all been smooth sailing for the therapeutic class. AbbVie's selective M4 muscarinic modulator emraclidine, gained via its $8.7 billion buyout of Cerevel Therapeutics in late 2023, went on to fail a pair of Phase II schizophrenia studies. And BMS's attempt to expand Cobenfy's label to include its use as an add-on treatment for schizophrenia was hit with a late-stage miss that left investors and physicians alike underwhelmed (see – KOL Views Q&A: Leading psychiatrist’s disappointment with BMS’s Cobenfy runs deeper than ARISE setback). MapLight is betting that ML-007C-MA's formulation could set it apart from other muscarinic agonists by improving its efficacy while still avoiding the side effects seen with dopaminergic atypical antipsychotics.The drug is being tested in two Phase II trials: one involving in-patient adults with schizophrenia, and the other studying Alzheimer's disease psychosis. Each is enrolling about 300 participants and is expected to read out in early 2027, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.