Euthymics Biosciences Closes $24 Million in Series A Funding and Acquires DOV Pharmaceutical

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Euthymics Bioscience is a company that works in the clinical stage development of the antidepressants of the next generation. The bioscience company announced that it has closed $24 million in a series A funding round which was led by Novartis Venture Funds and Venture Investors, the corporate investment arm of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Other investors who took part in this funding round include Hembrecht & Quist Capital Management, GBS Investment Partners, and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

Euthymics Bioscience is a clinical stage company that has its primary focus on the neuroscience industry developing the next generation of antidepressant drugs and other treatments for depression. The primary drug that Euthymics is working on now is the experimental EB-1010, which has been discovered to be highly effective in reducing the side affects that prevent patients from taking conventional antidepressants, such as weight gain, sexual dysfunction, and cognitive impairment. Euthymics Bioscience is a privately owned corporation based in Delaware with its corporate headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Along with closing an astronomical amount in series A funding, Euthymics also acquired DOV Pharmaceutical, which is the company that originally developed the EB-1010 antidepressant. This acquisition by Euthymics allows the company to further develop this drug in clinical trials for patients who do not respond well to conventional SSRI antidepressant drugs. SSRIs work by selectively retaking up serotonin to break the depression. Serotonin has long been touted to curb depression and the lack of serotonin has been believed to be the leading cause of depression in most patients. Due to the fact that SSRIs do have some unpleasant side affects, many clinical depression patients stop taking the drugs. EB-1010, which was formerly known as the DOV 21,947 has shown promise in reducing or eliminating these side affects. EB-1010 was the intellectual property of DOV Pharmaceutical and has become now the property of Euthymics since its acquisition of DOV Pharmaceutical.

According to the CEO and cofounder of Euthymics, Anthony A. McKinney; this recent commitment of our investors is quite impressive and speaks to the potential entry of a new market in clinical stage neurological pharmaceuticals for Euthymics. Mr. McKinney further added that the company is addressing a critical unmet need for the medical community to find effective drugs that can treat clinical depression and phase II of the clinical trials of EB-1010 shows a convincing proof-of-concept in the treatment of depression. Euthymics plans to begin phase III of clinical trials in early 2011.

According to the Managing Director of Novartis Venture Funds, Dr. Campbell Murray, MD; the prescription market for antidepressant drugs is one of the largest in the world, with a worldwide value that exceeds over $20 billion. As part of the agreement to this impressive funding round, Dr. Murray will also serve as the chairman of Euthymics’s board of directors. He further added that Euthymics has entered market that is filled with under-served patients and also has an executive team that has an impressive track record. Dr. Murray further added that Euthymics has all the ingredients for success and is happy to be on board.

Novartis Venture Funds is the strategic corporate investment arm of Novartis Pharmaceuticals and its primary mission is to find highly successful pharmaceutical and bioscience companies which can benefit Novartis and develop new clinical drugs to improve the quality of life in humans. Novartis will invest in companies who are in the medical devices, new therapeutics, diagnostics, and drug delivery industries within the United States, Canada, Europe, Switzerland, Asia, and the Pacific Region. Some other companies in Novartis’s portfolio include Aileron Therapeutics, Akedia Therapeutics, Alios BioPharma, and others.