Major depressive disorder (MDD) notched another late-stage failure in the form of Neumora Therapeutics Inc.’s data from the phase III Koastal-1 study, the first of three replicant trials in the pivotal program testing kappa opioid receptor antagonist navacaprant.
A schizophrenia drug in Cerevel Therapeutics Inc.’s lineup understandably stole much of the thunder during coverage of Abbvie Inc.’s takeover late last year to the tune of $8.7 billion, but much further back in the pipeline awaits another potentially lucrative prospect: a kappa opioid receptor antagonist (KORA) for major depressive disorder (MDD).
In the daunting shadow of previous years’ numbers, two companies jumped into this year’s relatively tepid IPO market. Rayzebio Inc. priced its upsized $311 million IPO of 17.2 million shares at $18 each. Gross proceeds of about $290.1 million are expected by the radiopharmaceutical cancer therapy developer. On Sept. 15, shares (NASDAQ:RYZB) closed up 33.3% at $24 each. Also, Neumora Therapeutics Inc. priced its IPO of 14.7 million shares at $17 each, looking for gross proceeds of about $250 million. The company, which is developing seven products targeting brain diseases, saw shares (NASDAQ:NMRA) close 4.4% downward at $16.25 on Sept. 15.
