Engrail’s precision psychiatry drugs get more buy in from venture investors

2024-03-19

IPO

Engrail Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotechnology company, has raised another $157 million to support its work developing precision medicines for psychiatric conditions and rare disorders.

The fresh funds announced Tuesday come from a Series B financing round that received more interest than Engrail had expected. New investors F-Prime Capital, Forbion and Norwest Venture Partners co-led the round, which also saw participation from more than half a dozen other life sciences investors.

Engrail’s research revolves around modifying the neurotransmitters dopamine and GABA as well as cellular copper levels. The company’s most advanced drug, named ENX-102, is in human testing as a potential treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. It also has preclinical programs targeting depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and an uncommon, inherited illness known as Menkes disease.

Engrail said the Series B proceeds will help move its programs through “multiple stages of clinical development.” The company is now “well positioned to deliver multiple value-creating milestones,” including completing an ongoing mid-stage study of ENX-102, said CEO Vikram Sudarsan in a statement.

“We see tremendous potential in Engrail’s pipeline and management team,” said Stacie Weninger, president of F-Prime Biomedical Research Initiative, which provides seed funding and guidance to startups advancing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related brain disorders.

Weninger and Jasper Bos, a general partner at Forbion, are now part of Engrail’s board of directors. The company has also added Tiba Aynechi, a general partner at Norwest Venture Partners; Niall O’Donnell, a managing director at RiverVest Venture Partners; and Heath Lukatch, a co-founder and managing partner at Red Tree Venture Capital.

A year after its establishment in 2019, Engrail raised $32 million through a Series A financing round led by Nan Fung Life Sciences, the global investment platform of the Nan Fung Group.

With its latest haul, Engrail joins a handful of other brain-focused biotechs that over the last year have brought in tens of millions of dollars for their research.

In early February, Alto Neuroscience, a company trying to create new treatments for central nervous system disorders, raked in nearly $130 million through an initial public offering. A week later, Neurona Therapeutics raised another $120 million to continue its work on “off-the-shelf” cell therapies for brain diseases. And most recently, Latigo Biotherapeutics debuted with $135 million to develop non-opioid pain medicines.

Last year, the biotechs Rapport Therapeutics, MapLight Therapeutics, VectorY Therapeutics and Nido Biosciences collectively raised more than $620 million through financing rounds of various stages. Richly-funded Neumora Therapeutics also grew its cash pile with an IPO that fetched $250 million.

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