Heptares raises $21m from Clarus and Takeda

Ellie Pullen
27 June 2013

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Venture capital firms Clarus Ventures and Takeda Ventures have backed a $21m round for UK-based drug discovery and development company Heptares Therapeutics, alongside the Stanley Family Foundation.

The fresh funding will allow Heptares to initiate the clinical development of its selective M1 muscarinic receptor agonist programme later this year. Muscarinic agonism is used to treat Alzheimer's and the cognitive impairment effects of schizophrenia.

The company has raised more than $60m from a consortium of venture capital firms since inception. Clarus and Takeda, the venture capital subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, are both previous investors of Heptares.

Previous funding
MVM Life Sciences first invested an undisclosed sum in Heptares in August 2007. Following this, in February 2008 the firm injected an additional $2.95m of equity into the company, according to unquote" data.

Clarus joined Heptares' investor pool in February 2009 alongside Novartis Venture Fund, as well as returning investor MVM. Collectively, the GPs invested £21m ($30m) in the company, with each firm contributing an equal amount of around £7m ($10m).

In April 2011, Heptares raised a further £2.8m ($4.5m) from Takeda.

Company
Heptares was founded in 2007 and is currently based in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, with an additional office in Boston, US. The company develops drugs designed to target G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are linked to a number of diseases.

People
Malcolm Weir is Heptares' founder, director and CEO. Michael Steinmetz, a managing director at Clarus, sits on Heptares board as a non-executive director alongside Novartis managing director Anja Koenig and MVM employee Eric Bednarski. Steinmetz manages Clarus's relationship with Heptares alongside partner Scott Requadt and managing director Nicholas Galakatos.