US-based biopharmaceutical company Cerevel Therapeutics launched yesterday with $350m in funding from private equity firm Bain Capital to commercialise several neuroscience assets licensed from pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
Bain Capital supplied the money through funds affiliated with Bain Capital Private Equity and Bain Capital Life Sciences. They may commit additional capital if required, though further details were not revealed.
Cerevel is developing treatments for disorders affecting the central nervous system. Pfizer has licensed preclinical and clinical-stage assets to the company, including compounds aimed at Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia, addiction and neuroinflammation.
Pfizer has taken a 25% stake in Cerevel, and two of its executives – Morris Birnbaum, chief scientific officer of internal medicine, and Doug Giordano, senior vice-president of worldwide business development – have joined the company’s board of directors.
Cerevel’s most advanced drug candidate is expected to enter a phase 3 clinical trial next year to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, with a second asset ready to enter a phase 2 trial for epilepsy.
Pfizer and Bain Capital will assist the startup in building a team of life science executives and scientists specialising in the central nervous system.
Adam Koppel and Chris Gordon, managing directors of Bain Capital, have also taken board seats at Cerevel.
Morris Birnbaum said: “We are excited that Cerevel will continue to develop the Pfizer compounds, contributing to the broad scientific understanding of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and fulfilling responsibility to patients with these devastating diseases and their families.”
