Neumora launches with $500 million+ and Amgen collaboration

Neumora Therapeutics, a US clinical-stage biotech focussed on brain diseases through the integration of data science and neuroscience, announced its launch today. The company has been operating in stealth for the past two years.

Neumora was founded as a response to the lack of targeted, effective medicines for brain diseases and the high failure rate that has plagued neuroscience drug development for decades. Neumora has raised over $500 million, including a $100 million equity investment from Amgen announced today, whereby Amgen and acquired exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize programs targeting casein kinase 1 delta and glucocerebrosidase for neurodegenerative diseases.

“Targeted, effective treatments for brain diseases remain elusive, and we founded Neumora to approach drug development in a smarter, more precise way,” said Paul Berns, co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Neumora. “For many years in oncology, cancers were broadly classified by symptoms and organs. We didn’t know how to target treatments for them, leading to poor outcomes. Through the advancement of data science tools and biopsies, the field progressed to understand that these were diseases driven by biological mechanisms and genetics. The industry learned how to define cancers more precisely, enabling the development of targeted drugs with better treatment outcomes.

Mr Berns continued, “Similarly, we now have the tools and technologies to redefine brain diseases to transform the development of targeted, effective precision medicines. Neumora is built at scale to pioneer potential best-in-class precision medicines for brain diseases, and we believe that integrating data sciences is the key.”

Neumora portfolio