Karuna looks past schizophrenia with $68M series B

Karuna intends to execute on its broader ambitions for lead program KarXT xanomeline/trospium chloride beyond schizophrenia, including development in at least two new indications, after raising $68 million in series B funding.

By late 2019, the company expects data from a Phase II trial of KarXT, a muscarinic receptor modulator, to treat acute psychosis associated with schizophrenia. The therapy is designed to mediate the side effects seen in prior studies of xanomeline, an agonist of CHRM1 and CHRM4 that has shown efficacy in CNS disorders, by combining it with trospium chloride, an antagonist of CHRM2 and CHRM3 that acts in the periphery and does not cross the blood-brain barrier (see "Karuna's CNS Double Play")...