 Amgen
to invest $100 million in SoftBank-backed Neumora
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[October 07, 2021]
(Reuters) - U.S. biotech Amgen Inc has made
a $100-million equity investment in Neumora Therapeutics, the brain
disease drug developer said on Thursday, adding that it will also get
global rights to develop and sell certain of Amgen's experimental drugs
for neurodegenerative diseases.
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 Neumora said Amgen's investment, along with $400 million it had
raised from other investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, will
help it bring precision medicines – already used in the field of
cancer treatments – for complex brain diseases.
"Traditional neuroscience R&D is constrained by a
'one-size-fits-all' treatment approach, often leading to
underwhelming efficacy, high placebo response, and routine clinical
trial failures. Patients deserve better," said Neumora co-founder
Kristina Burow.
Amgen, which sells migraine drug Aimovig, in 2019 said it would end
programs to develop other neuroscience drugs, and had said it
believed genetics will eventually drive progress in the area.
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 "Although Amgen is not
currently engaged in neuroscience research and
early development internally, this approach
addresses our commitment to remain engaged in
neuroscience through external collaborations,"
said David Reese, Amgen's head of R&D.
Neumora's series A funding round was led by ARCH
Venture Partners, and included participation
from SoftBank, Alexandria Venture Investments
and Altitude Life Science Ventures.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing
by Shailesh Kuber)
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