Emalex Biosciences closed a $250 million Series D funding round this week.
The upsized and oversubscribed funding round will be used for a Phase 3 clinical trial as the Chicago biotech startup strives to bring a new class of drug for patients with Tourette Syndrome to market.
Bain Capital Life Sciences led the funding round with participation from Paragon Biosciences, Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Co., and several family offices.
Paragon, a Chicago-based life sciences incubator and fund, led a March 2021 funding round for Emalex as well, when $35 million was raised.
Emalex is one of Paragon's seven portfolio companies and was created to develop treatments and therapies for central nervous system movement disorders.
The Phase 3 clinical trail for the drug is expected to enroll 220 patients across approximately 90 sites, making it the largest trial ever conducted in North America for the central nervous system disorder, according to Emalex.
The funding comes after a positive Phase 2b clinical trail that reportedly showed the drug reduced motor and phonic tics compared to placebo.
"Tic disorders can have severe social and psychological consequences for patients, and there currently aren't many medications that effectively reduce tics without causing unhealthy side effects," Dr. Donald Gilbert, a movement disorders specialist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, said in the news release. "Ecopipam has a novel mechanism that targets the D1 receptor, which is a new class of neurology drug."
