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Boston-based Karuna Pharmaceuticals, affiliated to PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC), were awarded a total of $8M by Wellcome Trust (one of the wealthiest charitable foundations worldwide).
Led by Andrew Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer, Karuna is a clinical-stage drug development company targeting muscarinic receptors for the treatment of psychosis and cognition across central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.
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The trust had previously awarded Karuna $3.8 million to fund a phase 1 tolerability proof-of-concept study with KarXT, which reported successful results. Both awards are structured in the form of unsecured convertible loans.
Schizophrenia is estimated to affect more than 20 million people worldwide and is usually described as a psychotic illness whereby a patient cannot distinguish their thoughts from reality and often suffer delusions and hallucinations.
The company plans to use this capital to further finance the clinical development of KarXT (Karuna-Xanomeline-Trospium), through a Phase 2 study in people with schizophrenia.
KarXT, consists of:
i. trospium chloride, an FDA-approved and well-established muscarinic receptor antagonist that has been shown not to enter the CNS, and
ii. xanomeline, a novel muscarinic acetylcholine receptor drug that has demonstrated effectiveness in placebo-controlled human trials in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.
There is a desperate need for new treatments that not only address the symptoms, but that are safer than existing medicines. Research into the condition is ongoing. Lundbeck and Otsuka Pharmaceutical recently announced that the European Medicines Agency’s CHMP regulatory committee responded positively towards Rxulti (brexpiprazole) for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.
This signals that the medicine is like to be available on the EU market soon as the European Commission is known to always license drugs within a few months of a CHMP recommendation.
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