Seaport Therapeutics rakes in $100m for neuropsychiatric medicine advancement

Seaport Therapeutics, a pioneering clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has successfully closed an oversubscribed Series A financing round, securing $100 million. This significant milestone was led by ARCH Venture Partners and Sofinnova Investments, in collaboration with Third Rock Ventures and Seaport founder PureTech Health. This financial injection is earmarked for the accelerated development of Seaport’s clinical-stage pipeline of novel neuropsychiatric medicines, leveraging its proprietary Glyph Technology Platform. This platform utilizes the lymphatic system to innovate on clinically validated mechanisms, aiming to revolutionize treatment approaches in neuropsychiatry.

The announcement was accompanied by significant appointments within the company: Daphne Zohar takes the helm as Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Board Member, while Steven M. Paul, M.D., steps in as Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors. These appointments highlight the company’s leadership in developing groundbreaking therapeutic solutions.

Seaport Therapeutics is not new to innovation; the team behind it has previously spearheaded the development of KarXT (xanomeline-trospium), setting the stage for the first new class of medicine in over 50 years for patients with schizophrenia. Under Zohar’s stewardship at PureTech Health, the R&D engine propelled 28 new medicines to fruition, including two U.S. FDA clearances and a third, KarXT, now pending FDA approval.

Steven M. Paul, M.D., praised the potential of Seaport’s investigational antidepressants and anxiolytics to effectively treat major depression and anxiety disorders—conditions often inadequately addressed by current treatments. Seaport’s strategic approach aims to refine and advance these mechanisms to improve success rates significantly in neuropsychiatric drug development.

Seaport’s most advanced therapeutic candidate, SPT-3001, is a beacon of hope for treating anxious depression. This oral prodrug of allopregnanolone has shown promising results in a Phase 2a clinical trial, demonstrating proof-of-concept in a validated clinical model of anxiety in healthy volunteers. Additionally, the pipeline includes SPT-3202 for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and SPT-348 for mood and other neuropsychiatric disorders, each leveraging the Glyph platform to overcome previous limitations and enhance treatment efficacy.

With the Glyph platform’s unique approach, leveraging the intestinal lymphatic system for drug absorption, Seaport Therapeutics is at the vanguard of creating more efficacious and less toxic neuropsychiatric treatments. This technology, licensed from Monash University and further refined by Seaport, underscores the company’s commitment to innovation and its potential to impact the treatment landscape profoundly.