A San Diego biotech company that licensed a compound from OHSU in 2018 has raised a $100 million funding round to further develop a drug for neuropsychiatric and neuro-immunologic disorders.
Autobahn Therapeutics plans to initiate Phase 2 clinical trials to provide "proof of concept" for the compound to be used to treat patients with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder depression, debilitating diseases that affect more than 20 million Americans.
Tom Scanlan, a professor of chemical physiology and biochemistry at the OHSU School of Medicine, developed the brain-penetrating version of a molecule originally intended to reduce cholesterol, before developing similar molecules targeting diseases of the central nervous system, including multiple sclerosis.
In 2018, OHSU licensed the compound to Autobahn, which raised $76 million in 2020. Scanlan described the drug as a synthetic thyroid hormone derivative, in pill form, that partitions to the brain favorably and not to other parts of the body.
“It’s been a long journey,” Scanlan said Friday.
He said that although his research previously pointed to the compound's applicability for repairing the protective sheath around nerve fibers, it makes sense for Autobahn to pursue the drug for major depressive disorder.
“There’s far less uncertainty and a far bigger clinical need as far as patients,” said Scanlan, who is a cofounder and senior adviser to the company. “The clinical development pathway is more straightforward, for sure. They have a laser focus, at this point, on depression, and I’m happy with that.”
This is the first oral medication developed in a lab at OHSU to go to clinical development, he said.
The company is planning on two phase 2 studies to test the effectiveness of the drug, after a successful phase 1 study to test the safety. The Phase 1 study results helped convince investors to fund the more expensive Phase 2 trials, he said.
“That says there’s a lot of confidence this Phase 2 is going to work,” he said.
The early clinical data look “encouraging,” said Dr. Thomas Cahill, founder and managing partner of Newpath Partners, which led the Series C funding round.
