Seaport Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on neuropsychiatric medicines, has completed a $225 million Series B financing round. The funding, led by General Atlantic, will be used to advance Seaport's clinical-stage pipeline and further develop its Glyph technology platform.
Glyph Technology Platform
Seaport's Glyph platform is designed to improve the oral administration of drugs by utilizing the lymphatic system. This approach allows drugs to be absorbed like dietary fats, bypassing first-pass metabolism and potentially reducing liver enzyme elevations and other side effects. The company believes this technology can unlock the potential of drugs that have shown clinical efficacy but were previously limited by poor bioavailability or tolerability issues.
Steve Paul, M.D., Founder and Board Chair at Seaport Therapeutics, stated, "The development of important new neuropsychiatric medicines is often halted due to poor drug-like properties or unacceptable tolerability, challenges that our Glyph platform can now uniquely address."
Clinical Pipeline
Seaport's lead therapeutic candidate, SPT-300, is an oral prodrug of allopregnanolone currently being advanced into a Phase 2b study for major depressive disorder (MDD) with or without anxious distress. Allopregnanolone is an endogenous neurosteroid with validated rapid antidepressant and anxiolytic activity. SPT-300 aims to provide this activity in a convenient oral form.
The company is also developing SPT-320, a novel prodrug of agomelatine, for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). SPT-320 leverages the Glyph platform to bypass liver first-pass metabolism, potentially allowing for lower doses and reduced liver exposure while maintaining efficacious systemic exposure. This could mitigate the need for liver function monitoring that has previously hindered agomelatine's development in GAD.
Investment Rationale
Brett Zbar, M.D., Managing Director and Global Head of Life Sciences at General Atlantic, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, "We are impressed with the team’s outstanding CNS clinical track record, as well as Seaport’s Glyph platform and innovative pipeline... We look forward to supporting the Company’s next phase of development."
With the completion of the Series B financing, Seaport Therapeutics is poised to advance its pipeline of neuropsychiatric medicines and further explore the potential of its Glyph technology platform to address unmet needs in mental health treatment.
