Neumora Therapeutics, a US-based developer of brain disease treatments, has collected over $500m in a series A round that included $100m from pharmaceutical firm Amgen.
Internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 also took part in the round, as did life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, through venture capital arm Alexandria Venture Investments.
The round was led by Arch Venture Partners and also backed by investment and financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital unit, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Catalio Capital Management, Invus, Logos Capital, Mubadala Capital, Newpath Partners, Polaris Partners, Re.Mind Capital, Surveyor Capital, Waycross Ventures and undisclosed others.
Founded in 2020 and launched last week, Neumora has developed a data science platform for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders that is designed to define and classify patient subtypes by analysing the mechanisms that drive brain diseases.
The startup’s technology is able to integrate multiple types of data across genomics, imaging and electroencephalograms (EEGs) and create data biopsy signatures that map underlying disease mechanisms to precision phenotypes, identifying distinct patient subtypes.
Amgen’s contribution came through a deal in which Neumora acquired exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise Amgen’s programmes targeting casein kinase 1 delta and glucocerebrosidase for neurodegenerative diseases.
Neuroma intends to use the funding to further develop its data-driven precision medicine approach and to advance a pipeline of novel drug candidates matched to specific neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.