19 March 2019 - - US-based drug development company Karuna Therapeutics, Inc., focused on targeting muscarinic cholinergic receptors for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders including psychosis in schizophrenia, psychosis in Alzheimer's disease, and pain, has closed a USD 68m series B financing round, including the issuance of USD 5m in shares upon conversion of debt into equity, the company said.

The financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners, with participation from Fidelity Management and Research company, Eventide Asset Management, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Partner Fund Management, Wellcome Trust, Sands Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and founder PureTech Health. Heather Preston, M.D., managing director of Pivotal bioVenture Partners, has joined the board of directors of Karuna.

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.

KarXT (Karuna-Xanomeline-Trospium), Karuna's lead product candidate for the treatment of psychosis in schizophrenia, 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.

Karuna has completed two Phase 1 clinical trials which demonstrated a clinically meaningful reduction in side effects compared to xanomeline and demonstrated that KarXT is well tolerated in healthy volunteers.

A proprietary co-formulation of xanomeline and trospium in a single capsule was used in the second Phase 1 clinical trial and is now being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with schizophrenia experiencing acute psychosis.

Top-line data from this trial are anticipated by the end of 2019.

A Phase 1b experimental pain trial in healthy volunteers and clinical work towards geriatric psychosis are expected to begin later this year.

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.

The comapny, which was founded by PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC), has a worldwide exclusive license for xanomeline and has a patent portfolio more broadly covering selective muscarinic targeting enabled by the KarXT approach.