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October 24, 2018 at 03:18 PM
Pfizer Inc. and Bain Capital LP are launching a neuroscience startup with $350 million in funding to focus on finding treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other disorders of the central nervous system.
Pfizer will get a 25% stake in the Boston-based venture, called Cerevel Therapeutics, the two companies said in a statement Tuesday. The New York-based drugmaker will contribute a portfolio of compounds that are in various stages of development, including three in clinical testing.
(Related: Dementia Has Frozen $1.3 Trillion in Japanese Assets: Dai-Ichi Life)
Pfizer has been cutting its in-house neuroscience efforts while investing in outside ventures. The pharmaceutical giant ended its neuroscience research earlier this year, calling the move “an extremely difficult decision.” But its venture unit has since dedicated $150 million, a quarter of its available capital, to investments in early-stage neuroscience companies like System1 Biosciences Inc. and Magnolia Neurosciences Corp.
Pfizer didn’t allocate any cash to Cerevel, according to Patricia Kelly, senior director of communications for Pfizer.
The most advanced assets in the Cerevel portfolio from Pfizer are a treatment for symptoms of Parkinson’s disease nearing late-stage trials, and a drug for epilepsy in mid-stage testing.
