MT-002 (Mentari)

Migraine drug developer Mentari Therapeutics went public on Tuesday through a reverse merger with InMed Pharmaceuticals. Alongside the deal, Mentari secured $290 million in funding to extend its cash runway through 2028. "This transaction provides us with the capital and public market infrastructure to aggressively compete in what we believe will be the next era of migraine prevention," said Julie Bruno, chair of Mentari's board, in a company release.The biotech's co-lead assets are MT-001, an anti-PACAP mAb, and MT-002, a bispecific antibody targeting CGRP and PACAP. It plans to file INDs for each asset in mid-2026 and the first quarter of 2027, respectively, with Phase IIa proof-of-concept data for the former due in 2028 and Phase I safety results in healthy volunteers for the latter expected in 2027.Both programmes were discovered by Paragon Therapeutics using its protein engineering technologies, then spun out into Mentari. The two candidates, dosed subcutaneously, have  demonstrated equal or superior in vitro potency compared to benchmark antibodies, and were designed to target validated and complementary pathways in migraine pathophysiology. The two assets are intended to treat both chronic and episodic migraine. "Recent anti-PACAP clinical studies have validated this novel mechanism and generated tremendous excitement among headache specialists," Bruno said. "We have a clear regulatory path [and] rapid development timelines benchmarked to approved migraine therapies."Under the deal, expected to close next half, pre-merger InMed shareholders are expected to own about 1.51% of the combined company, representing a pro forma equity value of roughly $421.4 million, inclusive of the private placement. The private placement was led by Fairmount with participation from Commodore Capital, Deep Track Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, a16z Bio + Health, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Wellington Management, TCGX, Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing, BB Biotech, Farallon Capital, RTW Investments, LP, Vivo Capital and Perceptive Advisors.