Roche spinout Noema Pharma raises $112M Series B to advance CNS disorder pipeline

07 Mar 2023
endpts.com
Phase 2
Swiss biotech Noema Pharma jumpstarted back in 2020 with a $60 million Series A financing round. Today, it’s wrapping up its Series B round with another $112 million to develop its pipeline of molecules focused on central nervous system disorders. Noema, a spinout from Roche, started out with four clinical stage assets in-licensed from Roche. The company says it will use this new round of financing to push forward its lead candidate basimglurant (NOE-101), an mGluR5 inhibitormGluR5 inhibitor which is currently being evaluated in Phase IIb clinical trials for severe pain in trigeminal neuralgia and seizures in tuberous sclerosis complex. Noema is also developing gemlapodect (NOE-105), a PDE10a inhibitor, in Phase IIb trials for Tourette syndrome and stuttering. A Phase IIb trial readout of gemlapodect in stuttering is expected in the next 12 months. NOE-115, a triple reuptake inhibitor for atypical depression and binge eating disorder, is Phase-II ready. “All of these molecules have been studied before in other indications. Roche has invested a lot in that and we have a lot of data that shows activity and also shows those molecules are safe,” CEO Luigi Costa said. “We will start another Phase II/III study in Tourette syndrome because we have completed a Phase IIa in adult patients and then we were encouraged to proceed into phase two which will include adult and adolescent patients,” Costa added. Costa said the indications for the drug candidates were chosen because they are either poorly treated with current available medications and surgeries or because there are no therapies at all. Most patients with stuttering, also known as childhood onset fluency disorder (COFD), for example, go into speech therapy — which doesn’t work for everyone. For the people who did not see positive change with therapy, gemlapodect could be the answer. Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, one of the founding investors, said the “beauty here is in the pipeline.” “It’s a pipeline of having a bunch of molecules. It’s a pipeline even within each of these molecules that are being developed in several indications,” Papiernik told Endpoints News . “So you know, [NOE] 101, TSC and trigeminal neuralgia, you don’t have all your eggs in one basket, and you really have two shots on goal.” It was George Garibaldi, former head of neuroscience product development at Roche for a decade, who first chose the compounds to license after Roche decided to shelve part of its psychiatry pipeline. The company started out with six staffers and now has 18, Costa said. The Series B round was co-led by Forbion and Jeito Capital. UPMC Enterprises joined previous investors Sofinnova Partners, Polaris Partners, Gilde Healthcare and Invus. Following the close of the Series B, Nanna Lüneborg from Forbion and Rachel Mears from Jeito Capital will join the board of directors of Noema Pharma.
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