Neumora Therapeutics Stock price
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
Neumora Therapeutics Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
15 Analysts have issued a Neumora Therapeutics forecast:
Analyst Opinions
15 Analysts have issued a Neumora Therapeutics forecast:
Neumora Therapeutics Events
Past Events
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MAR
30
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
6 months ago
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JAN
5
Special Call - Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.
9 months ago
|
|
OCT
27
Special Call - Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.
11 months ago
|
StocksGuide Free
Neumora Therapeutics — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Helen Rubinstein, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy at Neumora. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Neumora Therapeutics Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. Before we begin, I encourage everyone to visit the Investors and Media section of our website at neumoratx.com, where you can find the press release related to today's call. With me on the call today are Chief Executive Officer, Paul Berns; President, Josh Pinto; Chief Operating and Development Officer, Bill Aurora; Chief Scientific Officer, Nick Brandon; and Chief Financial Officer, Mike Milligan.
I'd like to point out that we will be making forward-looking statements during today's call, which are based on our current expectations and beliefs. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and our actual results may differ materially. Please review the risk factors discussed in today's press release and in our SEC filings for additional detail.
With that, I'll now turn the call over to Paul.
Thanks, Helen. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. 2025 marked a year of important clinical progress and execution for Neumora. We made meaningful strides in advancing our diverse pipeline of novel mechanism therapies, reported compelling data for NMRA-511, our oral highly potent brain-penetrant and selective vasopressin 1a receptor antagonist, progressed our Phase III program for navacaprant with optimizations based on key learnings from prior studies, expanded our M4 PAM franchise with 2 new programs in clinical development and prioritized obesity as the lead indication for our brain-penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor, NMRA-215 and reported class-leading DIO data, all while continuing to strengthen our financial foundation.
Our mission at Neumora remains clear: to advance the next generation of novel therapies that offer improved treatment outcomes and quality of life for patients living with brain diseases. We believe through our differentiated approach centered on advancing programs with best-in-class pharmacology and brain-penetrant chemistry targeting novel mechanisms of action, we have the potential to deliver transformative therapies to millions of patients in need of better options. Now as we move into 2026, Neumora is well positioned to achieve multiple potentially value-creating milestones within the next 12 months. As we approach these near-term catalysts, I am confident in the strength of our science, the focus of our strategy and the dedication of our distinguished Neumora team to deliver revolutionized therapies for patients living with brain diseases.
I will now turn the call over to Josh to review our pipeline updates. Josh?
Thank you, Paul. We are poised to build on the strong momentum from 2025 as we enter a catalyst-rich period with multiple clinical data readouts expected this year. Leading with NMRA-511, our oral highly potent brain-penetrant and selective antagonist of the vasopressin 1a receptor in Alzheimer's disease agitation. In January, we announced positive results from the Phase Ib signal-seeking study of NMRA-511. NMRA-511 demonstrated a clinically meaningful effect size in people with Alzheimer's disease and a favorable safety and tolerability profile with no reports of somnolence or sedation.
Today, we built upon those positive findings with new data from a prespecified analysis of the Phase Ib study in patients with a neuropsychiatric inventory agitation aggression or NPI-AA score of 4 or greater, which aligns with the enrollment criteria from the Rexulti and Auvelity pivotal studies. These data further reinforce the potential for an unsurpassed profile of NMRA-511 in AD agitation, an area with significant unmet need for new treatments. As a next step, we are exploring higher doses of NMRA-511 in a MAD extension cohort from which we expect to report data in the second half of 2026. From there, we plan to initiate a Phase II study with NMRA-511 in the first quarter of 2027.
Turning to navacaprant, our kappa opioid receptor antagonist for the monotherapy treatment of major depressive disorder. The KOASTAL-2 and 3 studies are now fully enrolled with more than 400 patients enrolled in each study. We look forward to reporting data from these studies in the second quarter. Additionally, on our M4 PAM franchise, we announced today that we have selected NMRA-898 as our lead program. We believe that NMRA-898 is well suited for continued development in schizophrenia based on promising clinical results from an ongoing Phase I study. We are currently conducting a multiple ascending dose study of NMRA-898 in healthy volunteers and patients with stable schizophrenia, and we expect to report data in the second half of 2026.
Turning to our metabolic franchise. We announced 2 key updates today regarding NMRA-215, our highly brain-penetrant oral NLRP3 inhibitor for the treatment of obesity. The first update and a very exciting one for us is new positive data from a 12-week diet-induced obesity or DIO mouse study that reinforces the potential of NMRA-215 for the treatment of obesity in both the mechanism of action switch and the weight loss maintenance paradigm.
These encouraging results further validate what we reported previously, class-leading weight loss as a monotherapy, additive weight loss in combination settings, potential for an incretin-sparing and/or switch treatment paradigm and weight loss maintenance that matches semaglutide. We are eager to advance next steps for NMRA-215. However, as we shared this morning, there were unexpected adverse findings from a separate 13-week rat tox study in a small number of animals. We have opened a for-cause audit of this study and expect to bring NMRA-215 into the clinic in the first quarter of 2027. Nick will go into more detail on both of these updates shortly.
But first, I will turn the call over to Bill to provide additional detail on our clinical programs. Bill?
Thank you, Josh. We are excited about the data from NMRA-511, which demonstrated a differentiated profile for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer's disease. In January, we shared top line results from our Phase Ib signal-seeking study of 511. This was a 2-part signal-seeking study that was not powered to detect statistical significance. Instead, we evaluated the effect size of 511 on a variety of clinical measures to inform additional development in AD agitation. In the Phase Ib study, 511 demonstrated an unsurpassed clinical effect size on CMAI total score and a range of other endpoints in a prespecified population with elevated anxiety at baseline.
Today, we announced new data from a prespecified analysis from the Phase Ib in 53 patients with an NPI-AA score of greater than or equal to 4 at baseline. This population is similar to the group studied in pivotal trials with Rexulti and Auvelity. 511 treated patients demonstrated a clinical benefit and had a Cohen's d effect size of 0.32 to 0.34 on CMAI total score, a similar magnitude to Rexulti. Additionally, in this population, 511 showed an unsurpassed effect size across the CMAI aggressive behavior subfactor score and CGI-S agitation score. Notably, 511 demonstrated a favorable tolerability and safety profile in Phase Ib, which we believe provides an opportunity for us to test higher doses.
We are advancing a MAD extension study this year with data expected in the second half of the year before moving to a Phase II study in the first quarter of 2027. Transitioning to navacaprant, we are pleased with the significant progress we have made with the navacaprant KOASTAL program for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Today, we announced that KOASTAL-2 and KOASTAL-3 studies are fully enrolled with more than 400 patients enrolled in each study. We expect to report a joint top line data readout for KOASTAL-2 and KOASTAL-3 in the second quarter of 2026. As a reminder, KOASTAL-2 and KOASTAL-3 are Phase III studies being run both in the U.S. and in ex-U.S. territories.
The design for these studies incorporated key learnings that we implemented in early 2025 following the KOASTAL-1 readout. This included enhanced medical monitoring to verify inclusion of appropriate patients, screening tools to rule out professional patients and site selection that focused on sites with expertise in conducting MDD studies. We believe that these optimizations facilitated appropriate patient enrollment in these trials. For example, we saw an approximately 10% higher screen fail rate in the KOASTAL-2 and KOASTAL-3 studies compared to KOASTAL 1. Overall, we are confident that these changes will result in a stronger data set and look forward to the results.
In the joint top line readout, we expect to include top line results for each individual study as well as prespecified analyses with more than 450 patients enrolled after study optimizations occurred in early 2025. We believe this approach will provide a comprehensive view of the data and help us better assess navacaprant's clinical profile. We will assess next steps regarding regulatory submission once we have the data in hand, but we believe that with the FDA's recent commentary, one positive study plus supportive evidence may be sufficient for approval. With one positive study, we would request a pre-NDA meeting with the FDA.
Lastly, on our M4 positive allosteric modulator franchise, today, we announced that we have designated NMRA-898 as the lead program in the franchise and plan to advance it for development in schizophrenia. This decision is supported by the encouraging data we have seen to date from our ongoing Phase I study. In that study, NMRA-898 demonstrated an approximately 80 to 100-hour half-life in humans, which confirms the potential for once-daily dosing and is within a similar range to the half-lives of highly successful neuropsychiatry medications like Vraylar, Abilify and Rexulti. We also observed dose proportional exposures with low variability as well as predicted free brain exposure significantly above the in vitro M4 EC50 levels.
In addition, we saw on-target changes in heart rate that were similar to those demonstrated by Cobenfy, which we believe provide pharmacodynamic evidence of target engagement. Taken together, these findings strengthen our confidence in NMRA-898 and support our view that it has a potential best-in-class pharmacologic profile. We are conducting a multiple ascending dose study of 898 in healthy volunteers and patients with stable schizophrenia. The goals of this study are to identify a maximum tolerated dose and to confirm CNS penetration through CSF exposure. We expect to report data from this MAD study in the second half of 2026.
While we have paused development of our other M4 PAM, NMRA-861, we believe it has a profile that could support development in the future. We are pleased to have this optionality in our portfolio. As you can see, we are making significant progress across our clinical pipeline that I believe has the potential to translate to meaningful medicines for patients.
With that, I'll now turn it over to Nick to walk through our NLRP3 update in more detail. Nick?
Thanks, Bill. I'll begin with our 12-week DIO data with our NLRP3 inhibitor, NMRA-215. As Josh noted, the results from this study further highlight our CNS penetrant pharmacology that translated to class-leading weight loss in these models. In earlier DIO studies, NMRA-215 drove dose-dependent class-leading weight loss as a monotherapy and in the combination setting with semaglutide. The 12-week DIO data we announced today provides supportive evidence for potential use of NMRA-215 in both the mechanism of action switch and maintenance treatment paradigms. DIO mice that was switched from a combination of NMRA-215 plus semaglutide to NMRA-215 monotherapy at week 8 maintained weight loss similar to mice who received semaglutide monotherapy for the entire study duration.
NMRA-215 also demonstrated sustained semaglutide-like weight loss at 12 weeks following the switch from semaglutide monotherapy to NMRA-215 monotherapy at week 8. These findings, along with our previously reported data are very encouraging and supports our view that central NLRP3 inhibition may offer an important new mechanism for weight loss. Additionally, with data from multiple sponsors in the space showing reductions in hsCRP, it's become clear that NLRP3 inhibitors offer potentially compelling cardioprotective benefits. We believe that this is a class effect, and we are likely to see hsCRP reductions with NMRA-215 when it enters the clinic. Now as Josh mentioned, we also shared that unexpected adverse findings were observed in a very small number of animals in a 13-week rat toxicology study.
A few details to highlight. The observations were not dose dependent and not associated with a known molecule-related or on-target effect, but did occur in conjunction with documented study conduct issues. We have opened a for-cause audit into the study. We have also completed 28-day rat and dog and 13-week dog toxicology studies with no similar findings and sufficient margins to achieve IC90 concentrations in the brain, which we believe are needed for weight loss. We remain confident in the potential of NLRP3 inhibition for the treatment of obesity and have started dosing in a repeat 13-week rat toxicology study. We now expect to bring NMRA-215 into the clinic in the first quarter of 2027.
From here, I will turn it over to Mike to review the financials. Mike?
Thanks, Nick, and good afternoon, everyone. As of December 31, 2025, we ended the year with $182.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. We expect our current cash position to support operations into the third quarter of 2027. Additional financial results are available for review in the press release that we issued this morning, including detailed information on our fourth quarter and full year 2025 operating expenses. Our total net loss for 2025 was comparable to the same period in 2024.
With that, I'll now hand the call over to Helen to manage Q&A with the operator. Helen?
Thanks, Mike. Before I turn it over to the operator, I'll ask that you limit yourself to 1 question. If you have an additional question, please feel free to return to the queue. With that, I'll turn it over to the operator to handle Q&A. Operator?
[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from the line of Myles Minter from William Blair.
2. Question Answer
Congrats on the progress. I'll keep it to one. Just wanted to follow up on comments that potentially 1 study and supportive evidence would be sufficient for the navacaprant filing in MDD. Did want to confirm that just means that a positive KOASTAL-2 or 3 would be that one study. And then the source of supportive evidence, maybe that comes from the combined trial analysis of those more than 450 patients enrolled post protocol amendment? Or is that coming from something like the Phase II you've already got in hand or even external data like from the [indiscernible] that supports the core antagonist mechanism here?
Myles, this is Bill. Thank you for your question. Yes, we do believe that with 1 positive study, either KOASTAL-2 or plus supportive data, we'd be in a strong position to proceed in requesting a pre-NDA meeting. Supportive data could take a variety of forms, whether that's an improvement on anhedonia as measured by SHAPS, whether it is tolerability safety profile that's quite compelling in an untreated large population. So there are a variety of ways by which we believe supportive data could play an important role, but 1 of the 2 studies being positive puts us in that position to move ahead of the meeting.
And the next question comes from the line of Brian Abrahams from RBC Capital Markets.
Congrats on the continued progress. Maybe just on 215, can you give us any color around these conduct issues that you mentioned, like what these were, why you suspect them and how these might relate to the toxicity findings? And I guess I'm curious, would the onus be on you to prove that the findings here were spurious? Or historically, has the FDA been fine with progressing a program if a redo of a 13-week tox study comes up clean?
Brian, it's Nick here. So because we do have an ongoing audit into the initial 13-week rat study, we can't really provide too many more details. Clearly, we have stated today that we do believe they are procedure-related and we are now completing -- well, we've now started a second repeat study with a different CRO. And that -- in that second study, we have made some changes. I think importantly, these types of findings in top studies are very common in the industry. They're well documented in the literature. And we know that other sponsors have repeated studies and have been able to move their programs forward. So we're obviously looking forward to completing this second study and progressing 215.
Your next question today comes from the line of Douglas Tsao from H.C. Wainwright.
Just on the M4 program, I'm curious if you could provide a little bit more in terms of what sort of put 898 in the lead. And also, I think Bill mentioned that you continue to see opportunity potentially for 861. I'm just curious, do you see that largely as a backup molecule right now? Or do you potentially envision development in alternative indications?
Yes. Doug, it's Josh here. And so as we mentioned, we're prioritizing NMRA-898 this morning as our lead in schizophrenia. And really, it's not because of anything that we saw with 861. Really, it's because 898 looks so compelling based on the data that we put out today, and both compounds are structurally distinct. So with our focus being on schizophrenia, we're going to progress 898 as the lead in that indication. But we do view 861 as a viable compound for future indications. And so as we think about indication expansion in LCM within this franchise, we could look to bring another compound like 861 forward in that. But for the time being, Doug, 898 is -- will be the lead for schizophrenia. And based on the data that we've published today, the compound is behaving exceedingly well in early clinical studies.
Your next question today comes from the line of Marc Goodman from Leerink.
This is Alyssa on for Marc. I was just wondering if you could give a little bit more details on the prespecified analysis for the KOASTAL-2 and 3 readouts. What exactly are we going to see? And how do you imagine interpreting those results compared to kind of the entire top line analysis?
Yes. Alyssa, it's Josh here. And so in terms of the KOASTAL studies for the prespecified analysis, what you can really expect is that we will be putting out top line data for the KOASTAL-2 study, top line data for the KOASTAL-3 study. And then we will be looking at those patients that were in a post-pause pooled population, so those that have gone through the SAFER process since the KOASTAL-1 study read out. Bill, maybe you want to just add a bit more in terms of what we'll see from the prespecified top line and what we're really going to be looking for in the KOASTAL results in the second quarter.
Sure. Thanks for the question, Alyssa. So with respect to the KOASTAL-2 and 3 study, just as a quick reminder, when we paused those studies, we did implement a series of measures that were designed to enhance the quality of the patients coming in. And those included things such as working with MGH and implementing the SAFER process. It included implementing VCT as a screening database and paring back the number of sites overall. We're pleased with the measures that we had taken, and we've seen higher rates of screen failure as a consequence, for example, approximately 10% higher than in KOASTAL-1.
These would have otherwise been patients that would have been randomized into the study. So it gives us confidence that, in fact, we've done a better job in making sure that we get the quality of patients consistent with what the protocol and our expectations were. With respect to the post-pause population, we'll have an opportunity in each of the individual studies to take a look at how those patients performed as well as taking a look at the pooled population post pause. So those will be added measures on top of looking, of course, at the individual study results for K2 and K3.
And the next question comes from the line of Paul Matteis from Stifel.
Congrats on the progress. This is Julian on for Paul. Do you mind just walking us through really quickly the update that you shared with respect to the maintenance data for 215? I guess, was this your expectation? And how did you get to sort of modeling that target dose where you're showing an estimated 23% reduction in weight loss in the DIO model? And then really quickly, if I may, just how does the delay on the sort of tox-related issue for the program factor into your capital allocation strategy?
Yes. Thanks, Julian. And so -- this is Josh here. Maybe I'll answer the second part of your question first. So obviously, our spend this year for 215 will be reduced as we're not going to be moving the program into the clinic until the first quarter of 2027. So it will free up capital as we think about allocation to other areas. In terms of the maintenance data, I think the data is exactly what we would expect, and it built on what we think was the best-in-class monotherapy and combination DIO data that we presented in October at our R&D Day. In terms of what we showed in this DIO study, it was completely focused on longer-term combination paradigms. And so we demonstrated that you could switch from being on a GLP-1 to NMRA-215 and maintain the same level of weight loss, which commercially could be very important.
We also looked at a paradigm where if you were on a combination of the 2 products, and you took one off, could you maintain weight loss? We absolutely validated there that, yes, if you're on a combo and you take away semaglutide, you can maintain monotherapy level weight loss with 215. And so in terms of how we selected the target dose, it was really around achieving IC90 concentrations in the brain, as we've highlighted previously. And so Julian, as you look at what we achieved in the 12-week DIO study, the combination of semaglutide and 215 alone, highly consistent with the 28-day data we previously put out, where you saw about a 20% to 25% reduction in combination therapy over the study. So Julian, I would say very validating, hits exactly what we'd expect to see out of the study and exceedingly consistent with what we have shown previously for 215 and DIO studies.
Your next question today comes from the line of Yatin Suneja from Guggenheim.
This is Delma for Yatin. So a clarification on the 215 tox study. So have you received any specific guidance from the FDA on what would be required to clear the IND? Or are you proactively rerunning the studies based on your own assessment?
Yes. Nick here again. Yes. So we haven't discussed the studies with the FDA, but we have consulted multiple consultants and KOLs around what was the appropriate path forward. So repeating the study was clearly the clear guidance we were given. And I would say, based on the experience of our internal team, including myself and our consultants, we're confident that this repeat study could -- will allow us to get the FDA to approve the IND. Yes, there's a lot of precedent for it. And first, I can look back on my own prior experiences at other companies where we've done similar things. So we're confident that this repeat study would allow us to get the IND cleared.
Your next question today comes from the line of Ami Fadia from Needham & Company.
This is Poorna on for Ami. On NMRA-511, could you help us understand how the effect size changed at the different time points, week 4 and 6 in the subpopulation? And how are you envisioning the Phase II study design in terms of the patient population and trial duration?
Sure. With respect to the effect size that we have seen in the trial overall, we're really pleased with the consistency of the results and looking at the effect size. The effect size, whether it be at week 4 or 8 depending on the various measures was quite consistent, and we're pleased with what we've been seeing here. With respect to the next steps of the program, we've communicated that we'll be moving forward with another MAD cohort where we believe we've got room to push the dose given the favorable tolerability seen. And then from there, we'll describe in further detail what our plans are for Phase II, including the design, inclusion criteria and the alike. But suffice it to say, the data that we put out today showing the NPI-AA of 4 or greater is consistent with what other sponsors have used as a part of their inclusion criteria and been able to maintain a broad label. So that is one where one could expect to follow the path of other sponsors and where there's a regulatory path that's been well defined.
Yes. And Bill, I would just add, I think the data today that we put out is really quite compelling for NMRA-511. I think it shows that in the total population, our data is consistent and just as compelling as what we've seen in patients with elevated anxiety. And Bill, to your point, this new data that we've highlighted today shows that we can develop NMRA-511 down a well-established regulatory pathway while still preserving the ability for a broad label in patients with AD agitation. So we actually view this data as the most compelling data set we've put out thus far for 511 and are really excited about this being the launching point for the program going forward.
Your next question comes from the line of Graig Suvannavejh from Mizuho.
I wanted to ask about 898 and the M4 PAM space. Could you just remind us how you're thinking about its differentiation versus, say, the Neurosterix's program? And if you could provide what you think the latest is with emraclidine, just as we think about the M4 PAM class and again, vis-a-vis the broader muscarinic space and any kind of thoughts you have on the Cobenfy launch and what that means about how doctors are thinking about muscarinics in the schizophrenia landscape?
Greg, it's Nick here. Thanks for the question on the M4. In terms of the differentiation of 898 in particular, compared to some of the other competitors, even including emerging companies like Neurosterix. I think I'd point to a number of key bits of data which we've put out, knowing that we don't know a lot about a Neurosterix's compound. 898 and 861 have a very, very potent and equipotent across assays, which is critical. Those compounds are also optimized for CNS penetration. And we've put out some data around that, which is in our corporate deck. We really -- the more data comes out there, it really holds up.
And now critically, we've got early clinical data and particularly with 898, it's really showed its hands [indiscernible] in the initial cohorts. Clearly, the half-life allows us for once-a-day dosing, which is critical. And I may hand over to Bill in a second to talk about some of the other elements that may drive -- we see really nice dose-dependent exposure. Variability is really, really low. And that's important. Other compounds in this class haven't had that quality. We also see really nice pharmacodynamic effects, and this is by the surrogate heart rate increases we see. So overall now, the profile of 898 just looks really good as we compare to what we know about other sponsors in the field. But maybe, Bill, do you want to add?
Sure, Nick. I would just simply add, Graig, that the half-life for 898 is within a similar range of half-lives of highly successful neuropsych meds like Vraylar, Abilify and Rexulti. We conducted market research with community prescribers that also has underscored some of the potential advantages of the profile that they've seen. And as an example, we know we have the ability to maintain steady state in the situations where a patient may miss dose of medication, which we know is a common phenomenon in schizophrenia. The half-life also has the potential to reduce withdrawal symptoms if patients discontinue medication. And so we're really pleased with the profile and the excitement is certainly one that's been underscored through some of the work we've done with physicians treating schizophrenia patients and the profile they've seen with 898.
Yes. And Graig, this is Josh. I would just add, we're really compelled by the data that's been put out this morning. I think as we look at it in the SAD study, we have not hit an MTD yet, so continue to move forward. And we're already seeing across the pharmacodynamic measures, activity elevated from what we've seen with emraclidine and even at levels relative to Cobenfy. If you look at what we've seen at the 15-milligram level in terms of heart rate elevation and beats per minute, that's comparable to what we've seen from Cobenfy at its highest doses. And so we feel like we are absolutely getting into a really good pharmacodynamic range while also having a compound that is behaving very well from a safety and tolerability perspective.
Our next question today is from the line of Myles Minter from William Blair.
For the quick follow-up on Graig's question as well. On 898, did you also see any sort of transient increases in blood pressure in that single ascending dose study?
The changes that we've seen in blood pressure are consistent with what we have expected, nothing that is different from what's been seen with the class. So it underscores that in the Phase Ib, we plan to move forward as other muscarinics have with routine monitoring. We do anticipate as the molecule progresses in development, like other muscarinics have done, we would look to do an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring study as others have in the space.
Yes. But just to be clear, Myles, in the single ascending dose study, we have not seen blood pressure changes thus far. So we are seeing the positive changes in heart rate as we believe the pharmacodynamic measure is as it's related to a measure of target engagement for M4 in the class. But in these doses, we have not seen the elevated blood pressure yet. So we'll continue to monitor and move forward. But to Bill's point, we -- our assumption is that blood pressure could be a class effect, and we baked into our plans having to run an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring study if needed.
And our final question comes from the line of Douglas Tsao from H.C. Wainwright.
I was just curious in terms of the combination -- or for 215, sorry, for the combination to 215 maintenance study, I'm just curious about the dosing that was utilized and are things that you think you might be able to do to sort of further optimize the maintaining of the weight loss that was seen when it was used in combination with semaglutide?
Yes. Doug, this is Josh here. As I mentioned before, I think in the 12-week DIO study, it's validated the hypothesis that we absolutely wanted. And the combo data, I think, is consistent where we saw over 12 weeks about a 23% reduction in weight loss on the combo. That's consistent with the roughly 25-ish percent we've seen in the earlier studies. And as we know in these DIO studies, as you continue to feed mice high fat diet over time, the weight does tend to rebound, whereas that's not necessarily the case in the clinic. I think as we're looking at ways to optimize the molecule, Doug, moving forward, really, the next step is to get it into the clinic, start to understand how it's behaving in humans from a PK perspective, and then we can look to move it forward there. But what I would say is the data we put out today continues to validate that NMRA-215 does have a best-in-class weight loss potential, at least as it relates to the DIO data we've put out between the R&D Day [indiscernible].
And if I can, Josh, just as a follow-up. I mean, obviously, you've sort of outlined in the DIO models a number of different use cases. How many do you anticipate ultimately bringing forward? Or do you think that this is more of a situation where you'll just sort of validate the 215's ability to drive weight loss and maintain weight loss and then kind of leave it up to clinicians to figure out their own particular dosing regimens and sort of ways of using the molecule?
Yes, Doug. And so there's obviously -- our view is there's going to be a lot of different things and paradigms that can be tested out with this molecule in combination potential. I think in terms of what you can expect from us moving forward, what you can expect from us is consistent with what we've highlighted before, which is we're going to now be moving the program into the clinic in the first quarter of 2027. And initially at weight loss, you can expect data to come out from us in a standard monotherapy as well as combination approach. We'll talk about future paradigms downstream after we validated the hypothesis of weight loss clinically.
That will conclude the Q&A portion of today's call. I will now hand the call back to Paul Berns, CEO, for closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you, operator, and thanks to all who joined us for this morning's call. We appreciate your interest and support. Have a lovely day.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
Neumora Therapeutics — Special Call - Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Helen Rubinstein, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications at Neumora. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss top line data from the Phase Ib signal-seeking study with NMRA-511 in Alzheimer's disease agitation. Before we begin, I'd like to point out that this presentation contains forward-looking statements, which are based on our current expectations and beliefs. We have a number of important disclosures on this slide, which we urge you to read. With me today are several members of Neumora's management team, including Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Paul Berns; President, Josh Pinto; Chief Scientific Officer, Nick Brandon; and Chief Operating and Development Officer, Bill Aurora.
With that, I'll now turn the call over to Paul to begin. Paul?
Thanks, Helen, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased to be with you today to review data from our Phase Ib signal-seeking study with NMRA-511 in Alzheimer's disease agitation. Now Neumora was founded with a clear purpose to tackle the brain disease crisis. And to achieve that goal, we have focused on advancing programs with best-in-class pharmacology and brain-penetrant chemistry targeting novel mechanisms of action with the potential to improve upon the current standard of care for hundreds of millions of people. The data we're sharing today is an important step forward for our vision in Alzheimer's disease agitation. We're very pleased that the Phase Ib study achieved its goal to identify the clinical effect of NMRA-511 in this underserved patient population, demonstrating a compelling effect size that supports further development.
Now before we dig into further detail, I'd like to take a moment to thank the patients, caregivers and investigators involved in the signal-seeking study for your important contribution to advancing research in this devastating condition. I'll now turn the call over to Josh to talk more about our strategy in Alzheimer's disease agitation. Then Bill and Nick will review the data in more detail. Josh?
Thanks, Paul. Agitation in Alzheimer's disease affects over 70% of individuals living with Alzheimer's disease dementia and is among the most disruptive of AD symptoms. Managing behavioral symptoms of the disease such as agitation is an important treatment consideration as they're associated with greater caregiver stress, earlier placement in long-term care facilities and increased morbidity and mortality. Anxiety is thought to be an underlying driver of aggression in AD. And as this population ages, the unmet need will continue to increase for patients, their caregivers and the health care system. It is well established that there is a significant unmet need for patients with agitation related to Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers. And as a result, we believe there is a highly compelling opportunity for a product with a differentiated benefit/risk profile.
The currently or soon-to-be approved products in this space are burdened by tolerability issues and limited efficacy that can be a concerning factor in a vulnerable population, reinforcing the opportunity to improve the benefit/risk profile of drugs for this indication. And that is why we are so encouraged by the NMRA-511 data we're sharing today. We believe that the clinical effects seen in the Phase Ib study shows that NMRA-511 has the potential as a next-generation treatment for AD agitation. The goal of the Phase Ib study was to understand the effect size of NMRA-511 in AD agitation, and it achieved that goal.
In this study, NMRA-511 demonstrated an effect size similar to Auvelity in the total population and an even more pronounced effect size in patients with elevated anxiety at baseline greater than REXULTI. Notably, these effect sizes were achieved with a more favorable safety and tolerability profile, which leaves room to evaluate higher doses, which could drive greater efficacy.
Importantly, we believe this finding is well aligned with NMRA-511's mechanism of action. Anxiety is often present early in the disease course. So we believe that these findings suggest potential for an important role for NMRA-511. These results suggest the opportunity to optimize or tune the profile of NMRA-511 as we advance further development, enabling us to study higher doses, which we believe will enable us to achieve a differentiated benefit/risk profile. So let's dig into the data in more detail. First, Nick will start by walking through the preclinical evidence for the mechanism. Nick?
Thanks, Josh. As shown on this first slide, the link between vasopressin and regulation of anxiety in the brain has been extensively characterized in both preclinical and clinical studies. The left-hand side of this slide talks to the large body of preclinical data, which shows that vasopressin modulates anxiety-related behaviors with the data at the bottom showing an example of V1a receptor antagonist modifying anxiety-related behaviors in a classical test of anxiety.
There are also a set of human studies which support the translation of this biology and critically the impact of the V1a antagonists. The graph on the right-hand side shows that in healthy volunteers, administration of intranasal vasopressin increased autonomic responsiveness to threat stimuli and increased anxiety. While the headline titles, the publications on the far right are with a [ tool ] V1a antagonist known as SRX-246. One study in healthy volunteers showed suppression of anxiety in a human anxiety model, while the same compound showed reduced aggressive behaviors in a subgroup of patients with Huntington's disease.
So together, we believe this data supports the strong link between V1a and anxiety. Our own work with NMRA-511 are consistent with this body of evidence. As part of our preclinical package, we conducted a human threat test in marmosets, which is a test that measures stress and anxiety levels. In the model, marmosets are exposed to an unfamiliar human driving high levels of anxiety. In our study, the marmosets that received NMRA-511 demonstrated reduced anxiety behaviors without reduced locomotor activity. These data were presented previously at the ACNP conference in 2022. This strong connection between anxiety and V1a drove our decision to prespecify an analysis of patients with elevated anxiety in the Phase Ib study. This background should set up the data you will now hear Bill talk through from this study. Over to you, Bill.
Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. I'll start by reviewing the design of the Phase Ib study. This is a 2-part signal-seeking study that was not powered to detect statistical significance. Instead, we use this study to evaluate the effect size of 511 to inform additional development in AD agitation. Part A was a 2-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled period that was designed to assess the safety, tolerability, PK and cardiodynamics in healthy elderly participants. We shared data from Part A at our R&D Day in October, and they are available in the appendix of this deck, which is posted on our website.
Part B was multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled as well, a parallel group cohort to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of 511 among adults with agitation associated with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. It's an early phase study. It wasn't powered for statistical significance. But that being said, the primary endpoint for Part B was the change from baseline to week 8 in our CMAI total score.
We also prespecified an analysis of patients with elevated anxiety. For the reasons Nick mentioned, the underlying biology, the mechanism of action and the fact that anxiety is highly clinically relevant as a symptom in AD agitation. Anxiety was assessed by the RAID or the rating of anxiety in dementia scale. This is a validated 18-item scale, a score of 11 or greater or 12 or greater are thresholds for clinically significant anxiety.
Part B enrolled 80 patients with AD agitation across 2 arms, 511, 20 milligrams twice daily and placebo. On the following slides, I'll review data from Part B of the study. As you can see from this slide, the baseline demographics and characteristics were balanced across 511 and placebo groups, generally speaking. You'll note that the baseline rates of anxiety were slightly elevated in the placebo group, meaning that if we had higher rates of anxiety, one would expect perhaps the active to have an even more profound effect than I'm about to share, which we're really pleased with.
On average, the baseline CMAI scores were 68.2 in the 511 group and 68 in the placebo group. On the next 2 slides, we'll show data for 2 populations in the study, the modified analysis set, which includes 71 patients and the prespecified modified analysis -- excuse me, the prespecified elevated anxiety population with a RAID of 12 or greater, which includes 36 patients. This slide shows data from the modified analysis set. As you can see on the left, 511 drove a clinically meaningful reduction in CMAI total score with an absolute reduction of 15.7 points at week 8 and a Cohen's d effect size range that -- the range from 0.2 to 0.23. These findings support that 5.11 has the potential as a treatment for AD agitation.
The right side of the slide shows the CMAI subscore results at week 8. I'll take a moment to highlight the aggression subscore. This measure may be important for both patients and caregivers as caregiver safety is important when we think about behaviors such as hitting and pushing that can be dangerous. As you can see, 511 drove a 5.3 point reduction in the subscore, a particularly important finding when one considers the treatment goal prolonging the time to institutionalized care for patients. Turning to patients that had elevated anxiety at baseline. As you can see on the left, 511 demonstrated an unsurpassed effect size in this prespecified analysis with a 20.1-point absolute reduction in CMAI total score at week 8 and a Cohen's D effect size range from 0.51 to 0.64. This represents unsurpassed effect size [ as has ] been demonstrated in AD agitation, and the absolute reduction is similar to the results demonstrated by REXULTI in Phase III.
The CMAI subscore for elevated anxiety populations are shown on the right. Here, you can see similarly robust results on the CMAI aggression subfactor score. Additionally, we know from other sponsors that the FDA has been particularly interested in CMAI subscale data. So we're pleased to see similar findings of 511 to those shared by other sponsors. Turning to tolerability and safety data. The profile here is favorable. The data on the left shows the most common adverse events seen in either group. Treatment-emergent adverse events in the study were typically mild to moderate in severity. And importantly, the discontinuation rate due to adverse events in the study was very low at 2.5%. I'll also point out that we did not see sedation or somnolence in the Phase Ib study, a finding that has been associated with other treatments for Alzheimer's disease agitation that may be troublesome in this vulnerable population.
We believe these tolerability and safety findings support the evaluation of higher doses of 511, which we believe will enable us to achieve a differentiated benefit/risk profile. In summary, there are several key takeaways from the Phase Ib study. First, 511 was safe and well tolerated. Second, 511 demonstrated clinically meaningful reductions in CMAI total score in the modified analysis set with an effect size similar to the current or potentially soon-to-be approved medications in this indication and an unsurpassed effect size in patients with elevated anxiety. Third, 511 drove important improvements on the most clinically relevant symptoms of AD agitation, those measured by the CMAI aggression subscale. These symptoms often cause patients to move into long-term care facilities, so managing them is an important treatment goal.
Fourth and finally, the results seen in the study are well aligned with the understood mechanism of action for 511. These data give us confidence to pursue clinical development for 511 as a treatment for AD agitation. With that in mind, there are 3 next steps for the 511 program. First, we plan to initiate and complete a MAD extension cohort in 2026. We are working expeditiously to design and optimize MAD extension, and we're excited to provide further details when we initiate the study. Next, we plan to transition from the current twice-daily formulation to a once-daily extended-release formulation in 2026. In addition to the once-daily treatment being more favorable for patients and caregivers, we believe the extended-release formulation will expand our IP, adding 4 years of exclusivity to our current expectations. We expect to be able to exclusively market 511 into 2046 based on the composition of matter patent.
With these steps and once upon completion, we plan to initiate a Phase II/III study for 511 in AD agitation. In closing, we're really excited about the potential for 511 to make a difference for patients and caregivers who are facing this devastating condition. With that, I'll turn the call over to Helen. Helen, back to you.
Thanks, everyone, for your time and participation today. I'll now turn the call back over to our operator, Shannon, to host our Q&A session. Shannon?
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Myles Minter with William Blair.
2. Question Answer
Congrats on the data. Two questions from me. One is on the ability of you to go to a higher dose of NMRA-511, where you think you can elevate from this 20 mg BID dose that we're seeing today? And the second is in that sort of Phase II/III trial that you're thinking about and as you get more data from this dose expansion, would you formally enrich a patient population for baseline anxiety here as you did on the RAID subanalysis?
Yes. Myles, it's Josh here. Happy to answer those questions from you. I think on the higher dose potential, Myles, in terms of the dosing for this study, we, in our previous MAD, had dosed to 40 mgs QD. We elected 20 mg BID in this study just to maintain a more AUC coverage and not hit Cmax. We believe that we can dose higher with this product given the clean safety profile. And we actually think in these neuropsych conditions, dosing to an MTD could be important to just drive the maximal amount of drug in. With NMRA-511, we had done modeling work on receptor occupancy that suggested that these doses would be above the 90% threshold. But unfortunately, for V1a, there is not a receptor occupancy ligand. So all the work is just based on modeling. So I think for this one, Myles, our goal is just going to be to push higher. And we think with the preclinical margins we have in the safety and tolerability, we'll be able to go much higher. At this point, we haven't outlined exactly where the doses are yet though.
And then, Bill, maybe do you want to answer the question on the Phase II/III formal enrichment?
Sure. Myles, with respect to the data that we've seen in the Phase Ib, we're pleased with the overall population results we've seen, although we have seen a more pronounced and an unsurpassed efficacy signal in the patients with elevated baseline anxiety. So we are in a position where we could enrich, but we don't feel that that's critically necessary to be able to reap the full benefits here that we've seen. So more to come on the details of the design and the population that we'll pull into the study.
Yes. And I would just add, Myles, that as you look at the -- just the prevalence of anxiety within AD, it's about 70%. So it's equivalent large population, and there's significant overlap in terms of AD anxiety and AD agitation. So we actually think this is a large market opportunity. Whether we formally enrich or not, we think that the market here is large. So in the end, we will be capturing the broad potential of the AD agitation patient population.
Our next question comes from the line of Douglas Tsao with H.C. Wainwright.
Congrats on the progress. So just to understand, when we think about this sort of Phase II/III study, it sounds like you will -- your initial inclination is not to necessarily enrich for the anxiety levels. But will that necessarily be a prespecified subpopulation so that, in theory, it could be confirmatory evidence down the road if you see that signal?
Yes, Doug, this is Josh here. I think one important thing to remind folks of is if you look at the Auvelity pivotal studies, so the advanced studies as well as studies 6 and 7 from REXULTI, those programs actually did enrich in their studies. They not only had a CMAI cutoff, but they had an NPI cutoff as well to enrich for patients with an NPI agitation score above 4. So we think there's precedent out there, Doug, for these subtle enrichments that just help to hone in on the patient population. So as we move forward, we are going to think about what is the optimized patient population. But we think with this data, we absolutely have a path forward to look for a broad opportunity in terms of treating patients with AD agitation. But if we can improve the baseline anxiety scores, we think that there's an even elevated opportunity.
And one thing I would note, if you look at our baseline demographics, the baseline RAID score is the one area where there was slight imbalance between placebo and active. The placebo actually had a higher baseline RAID score of 14.3 than active 511 at 11.8. And so we actually believe if those groups are balanced in the total population, you might even see a larger treatment response. And so we're actually feeling, Doug, fairly confident in terms of how we move forward, whether we're thinking about the full broad population or whether we think about slight enrichment for anxiety as we know there's precedent with both the other sponsors that have enriched in their pivotal studies.
And then just, again, as a follow-up, just given the tolerability that we've seen as well as magnitude of the signal, how are you thinking about going into broader indications where sort of agitation and anxiety are prevalent?
Yes. And so Doug, with this mechanism, we've seen other sponsors that have studied V1a receptor antagonist in a range of indications. Autism, PTSD have been some of the historical ones. We're now seeing folks moving into social anxiety and GAD. Our focus right now is AD agitation. It is a very large kind of patient population, significant unmet need. And we're first going to look forward to moving there. But we see an opportunity here broadly across a range of other anxiety potential populations. We'll look to explore those further down the road.
And just a final quick one. Timing on completion of the MAD studies?
So Doug, we're planning to initiate the MAD extension study to test higher doses of NMRA-511 this year. We haven't provided any specifics yet on exactly when we'll initiate it, but the current plan is to complete that by the end of the year, which would support moving into a Phase II or III study thereafter.
Our next question comes from the line of Yatin Suneja with Guggenheim.
Just a couple for me. Just first on the data. Could you just comment, I know these are just fresh data you're still analyzing, just consistency of data across other endpoints that you might be looking at? So that's one. And the second question is on the other update that you provided on the navacaprant. You are increasing the size of the study by 25%. Just talk a little bit about that. What is leading you to increase the size and then how the disclosure is going to happen for the navacaprant program?
Yes. Yatin, this is Josh. Maybe I'll answer your second question on the navacaprant update this morning, and I'll turn it over to Bill to really focus on the consistency of the other data in the 511 study. And so in terms of the release this morning, I think what we highlighted is that we are going to look to maximize the patient -- the potential patient population within the KOASTAL-2 and -3 studies. As we previously disclosed, our protocol allows for up to 25% increase in enrollment. I think the reason we're doing this is since we paused the studies at about this time last year, we implemented SAFER and VCT to provide additional control measures to get a high-quality patient population.
We believe that we're seeing what we want out of those measures in terms of higher screen fail rates, and our team feels like we're getting a higher quality patient population into the KOASTAL-2 and -3 studies. And so we want to maximize the potential patient population. So what you'll see from the readout in the second quarter is a combined readout of both KOASTAL-2 and -3. We'll be able to provide top line results on KOASTAL-2, top line results on KOASTAL-3.
We'll also be able to provide some data on the [ post-pause pooled ] population, which should be north of 400 patients to give a true read of does the improvements in patient selection truly work for navacaprant. And so we're really looking forward to it, and we're thrilled that we've been able to kind of get a -- what we believe is a more optimized patient population in the K-2 and K-3. Bill, maybe over to you on the consistency of the data.
Sure. Thanks, Yatin, for the question. We are, as you mentioned, just with the data in hand, fresh hot off the press going through the additional information thus far with what I've seen, the data look consistent and concordant with what we've gone through. And so we're pleased with overall the data that we have seen from what we presented today and consistent with the findings for the data that come from other rating scales as well.
Our next question comes from the line of Brian Abrahams with RBC Capital Markets.
Two for me. I guess, first, just as you're thinking about dose escalation, I'm curious if you saw any relationship between exposure and effect size in this initial study there and the degree at which that might support further dose escalation. And then secondarily, it looks like the strongest signal that you're seeing is around aggressive behaviors. And so I'm wondering if there might be ways as you kind of continue the program going forward to further enrich for that signal in Phase II/III and/or pivotal work. What's the regulatory amenability like around these types of CMAI subscores?
Yes. So Brian, this is Josh here. On the exposure/effect size, I think what we did see in the MAD studies, Brian, was dose proportional PK and response. In this study, we only really looked at 20 milligrams BID. So the exposure response or the exposure curve is not very broad. That is why we want to look at exploring higher doses and run a proper dose ranging study next, Brian, is to get this exposure/effect size curve. But I think with where we are, we're quite pleased with the effect size we've seen with the 511 thus far. And then in terms of the strongest signal around aggressive behaviors, I would just remind you that REXULTI and Auvelity in their pivotal studies did enrich, as I mentioned before, for more agitation using the NPI agitation index requiring a score above 4. And so I do think we have seen other sponsors enrich. But Bill, maybe I'll turn it over to you and see if you want to comment any more on the strong signal we found in the aggressive behaviors.
I think you covered it really nicely. Nothing more to add at the moment.
I guess I was thinking more in terms of enriching for the endpoint itself rather than the population. Is that a possible go-forward endpoint?
Yes. So Brian, we could talk to the agency about it. Bill, I think as you commented, what we know from agency commentary on the REXULTI label, Brian, is that they put a lot of weight not only into the total CMAI score, but how the factors moved. And if you look at the REXULTI label and how their factors move, they moved almost identically to how 511 moved them where you saw the largest response on the aggressive behaviors and a more smaller response on the other factors. And so I don't know at this point, Brian, if we formally enrich for another measure. But I do think as you look forward, there is commentary out there with the agency absolutely puts weight not only in the total score, but in the factor subscale as well.
Our next question comes from the line of Graig Suvannavejh with Mizuho.
Congrats on the data. Maybe just a big picture question on the AD agitation opportunity for 511. Can you provide maybe your assessment of how REXULTI has performed in this indication? Any sense of like market share penetration for the asset? And also your thoughts on Axsome's AXS-05 in ADA and its potential there, any pluses and minuses that you see and then positioning of 511 in the context of those 2 assets?
Yes, absolutely, Graig. And so I think in terms of how we see 511 positioned relative to the 2 programs out there, so REXULTI, which is obviously approved and Auvelity, which is potentially soon-to-be approved, it's clear with REXULTI that it's really the side effect profile and the black box warning for mortality in elderly is some of the challenge there as it relates to bringing that program forward. And so as we've said for about the last year, we think that in this population, which is a vulnerable elderly population, we need to be focused on bringing new therapies to market that have a much better benefit/risk profile. So they can drive much more tolerability while still giving comparable efficacy or is driving much more significant levels of efficacy.
And so as we look at the landscape here, what we believe we've demonstrated from 511 is that we absolutely have a favorable safety and tolerability profile. And as we compare against that relative to data that other sponsors have put out, feel pretty good. We don't see any of the challenges that REXULTI has seen. We don't have sedation or somnolence in our study. And so we think that there are absolute tolerability advantages.
As you look at the effect size, we feel like we've got the opportunity to tune, and that's what we're going to be really focused on as we move forward this year. We've got a very compelling effect size comparable to what Axsome generated for Auvelity in the total population. As I mentioned there, I actually think that, that score could be slightly higher if we had balance on the RAID scores at baseline between active and placebo. And then we see when we enrich for elevated anxiety, which Nick highlighted today is absolutely linked with the mechanism of 511, we see unprecedented and unsurpassed clinical effects.
And so we believe that within this range and this patient population with a drug that is safe, our ability to dose higher and really push an opportunity is quite compelling. And so Graig, we think that there's quite a big opportunity in this space. It's a large market opportunity. Almost all the patients with Alzheimer's experience some form of agitation or anxiety. And we think that a product like 511 that is very safe and well tolerated with a strong effect size should have a great opportunity within the treatment paradigm.
Okay. Great. Just a quick follow-up on your other strategic priorities that were announced this year. Just on 215, the NLRP3 inhibitor for obesity. I think slight changes in time lines, but still data this year in 2026. Can you give us a sense of kind of how you're viewing that opportunity against the ever-changing competitive landscape broadly -- more broadly speaking, in obesity, especially from a small molecule perspective?
Absolutely. And Graig, just to update. So I think the update we provided on 215 this morning was just a slight change. We've moved our guidance from clinical initiation in the first quarter to first half of this year, but still anticipate delivering proof-of-concept top line data by year-end. In terms of the program, where we really view the potential for this opportunity is in the emerging oral landscape. As we think about the weight loss space, the incretin-based injectable therapies such as the GLP-1s have driven great weight loss, but the GI tolerability issues are a challenge. And as we're seeing the market move towards more cash pay, we think that an oral small molecule can offer a couple of commercial advantages. One, the cost of goods for a small molecule should be lower than the injectables, and they do not require cold chain storage for global distribution.
And so what we've seen with 511 is the first oral therapeutic with a novel mechanism that can deliver incretin-like weight loss, but with what we believe should be a tolerability profile that avoids the GI side effects in an oral formulation. And so Doug, we're -- sorry, Graig, we're really actually really excited for bringing 215 forward into the clinic because we think that this could be really the next wave of innovation with NLRP3 inhibitors coming up as the next big oral opportunity within weight loss. And so we'll be moving 215 into the clinic in the first half of this year, and we look forward to generating 12-week weight loss data before end of the year.
Our next question comes from the line of Paul Matteis with Stifel.
This is Julian. I guess just more broadly, really interesting result in the elevated anxiety subgroup. I guess just given historically, neuropsych trials moving from early exploratory Phase I/Phase II studies to Phase II/Phase III, there's some regression in effect size and this data is based on 16 patients. I guess what just gives you confidence that you're going to be able to replicate the signal there? And then I guess just more broadly as well, do you plan on sharing the overall effect size for the more fulsome patient population at any time, i.e., not the modified analysis, but the ITT analysis.
Yes. And Julian, maybe I'll hit the second question first, and I'll turn it over to Bill to really hit on what gives us confidence we can replicate the effect size, really focuses around some operational pieces. But in terms of the more fulsome population, really, there were 2 patients that were excluded from placebo due to rater changes that drove outlier datasets that was greater than 3 standard deviations from the mean. Julian, we've run the analysis. When we include those, we still see a very strong effect size in the elevated anxiety population that is equivalent to or still greater than REXULTI. And so we've run some of these sensitivities and the data still looks fairly strong on that side. But Bill, I'll turn it over to you and maybe you can hit what gives us confidence we can maintain this effect size moving from Phase II to Phase III.
Sure, Josh. And thanks, Julian, for your question. As you know, this is a signal-seeking study. We did not put into place a number of things that we will as we move ahead. Those things include things like ensuring patient compliance and adherence with medication. Things like AiCure, which have been utilized in other programs to ensure consistency with medication being taken to a variety of other operational factors that might include enriching for agitation as other sponsors have certainly are things we could do operationally as we move ahead. So this is intended to be one study where we move forward to seek the signal and can certainly put into place a lot of the things that other sponsors have and that we ourselves have done in the MDD space as well.
I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd now like to hand the call back over to Paul Berns for closing remarks.
Thank you, operator, and thank you all this morning for joining us today to discuss the top line data from this Phase Ib signal-seeking study with NMRA-511 in Alzheimer's disease agitation. As always, your questions were well thought out, and we do appreciate the input. As you can tell, we're really quite pleased with regards to the demonstrated unsurpassed clinical effect size on the CMAI total score in the patients overall and in particular, in those patients with the prespecified elevated anxiety. And I think that's key. We clearly understand the power of those data.
And as Bill has noted and Josh noted today, there are various avenues we could take precedent set by other sponsors already in working with the FDA for which there was always natural enrichment that they took in their programs. And we're really quite excited with regards to what this data very clearly specifically tells us and how we can look to index into a population that improves our risk. We believe that can improve our risk-adjusted probable success as we move into a dose-ranging MAD extension as well as we think about the further Phase II/III work. So it's quite exciting. We believe the drug has the potential to demonstrate an unsurpassed tolerability, safety and efficacy profile as we move forward in this area of high unmet medical need.
So with that, I wish you all a happy New Year, and have a good day.
This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Neumora Therapeutics — Special Call - Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.
Neumora Therapeutics — Special Call - Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.
1. Management Discussion
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Helen Rubinstein, Vice President Investor Relations and Communications of Neumora. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's event. Before we begin, I'd like to point out that this presentation contains forward-looking statements, which are based on our current expectations and beliefs. We have a number of important disclosures on this slide, which we urge you to read. In addition, I'd like to note that the event today will be held in lieu of our formal earnings call for this quarter. We plan to report our third quarter 2025 financial results on Thursday, November 6. The press release detailing this information will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website.
With me today are several members of Neumora's management team, including Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Paul Berns; President, Josh Pinto; Chief Scientific Officer, Nick Brandon; and Chief Operating and Development Officer, Bill Aurora. We're also thrilled to be joined by a leading expert on Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Anton P. Porsteinsson, William B. and Sheila Konar, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, Neuroscience and Medicine, Director Alzheimer's disease Care, Research and Education Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry to discuss the potential of NMRA-511 in Alzheimer's disease agitation.
We have an exciting agenda this morning that includes several updates across our portfolio. To start, Paul will provide a brief introduction and outline Neumora's strategic vision. Next, Josh and Nick will review NMRA-215 for the treatment of obesity and walk through the class-leading DIO mouse data we announced this morning. Following that, Bill will review the NMRA-511 program and host a fireside chat with Dr. Porsteinsson focused on its potential in Alzheimer's disease agitation. Additional sessions will provide an update on our M4 PAM franchise and progress with Navacaprant in the Phase III KOASTAL Program.
I'll now turn it over to Paul to begin the event. Paul?
Thanks, Helen. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Neumora was founded with a clear purpose to tackle the brain disease crisis, one of the largest population health challenges of our time at scale. From the start, we knew that to deliver on our mission to improve the quality of life for millions of patients we needed to advance differentiated medicines with the potential to enable better outcomes. Our approach is centered on advancing programs with best-in-class pharmacology and brain penetrant chemistry, targeting novel mechanisms of action with the potential to improve upon the current standard of care for hundreds of millions of people.
I believe we've made important progress toward that goal, which I'm pleased to be here to review with you today. In particular, this morning, we announced class-leading weight loss data from our diet-induced obesity studies with NMRA-215, our highly brain penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor. With NMRA-215, we believe we've engineered the next generation NLRP3 inhibitor. NMRA-215 has the potential to be a best-in-class new oral therapeutic for obesity that improves upon the challenges with current treatments.
We also announced this morning that NMRA-898 has entered into the clinic, marking a major milestone as we are now advancing 2 potentially best-in-class M4 PAM candidates for the treatment of schizophrenia. In addition to this morning's announcement, we have several clinical data readouts within our cash runway guidance period, which extends into 2027. First, we are looking forward to the top line data readout of the Phase Ib signal-seeking study with NMRA-511 in Alzheimer's disease agitation around the end of the year. Now this study will provide important data on the potential utility of NMRA-511 for reducing agitation symptoms.
Next, we remain on track to report top line data from the KOASTAL-3 and KOASTAL-2 studies with Navacaprant in the first and second quarters of next year. And finally, we expect to initiate Phase I studies with NMRA-215 in obesity in the first quarter of 2026 and share important updates from our M4 PAM franchise by mid-2026. I believe that we've assembled an industry-leading pipeline with immense potential impact for patients, and we are in a strong position to translate that science into real world therapeutic breakthroughs.
As you can see, we believe our pipeline progress has set the stage to unlock tremendous value for patients, health care providers and shareholders. We've made great strides toward our strategic goals and are well positioned to achieve multiple value-creating catalysts over the next 12 months, all within our cash runway. With multiple clinical data readouts and a new study initiation on the horizon, we're excited to maintain strong momentum across our pipeline.
The presentations today will provide deeper insight into our novel programs and the catalysts you can expect in the near term.
With that, I'll now hand the call over to Josh, in which he'll begin the discussion on our obesity program. So Josh?
Thanks, Paul, and good morning, everyone. We are tackling some of the greatest public health challenges of our generation, and obesity is clearly among the largest epidemics we are facing worldwide. Over 1 billion people are living with obesity, and that number is set to grow to 4 billion by 2035. However, despite the availability of first-generation treatments, significant unmet need exists. Although injectable GLP-1s have become widely used, they're not perfect. Many patients experienced GI side effects, don't respond to treatment with these agents or regain weight after treatment cessation. Oral forms of GLP-1 have not been able to demonstrate the same weight loss as their injectable counterparts, but still drive the same GI side effects. In fact, according to real-world data, 68% of patients discontinue GLP-1 within a year and 58% stop before reaching a clinically meaningful weight loss benefit. Clearly, there is significant opportunity for next-generation oral treatments that work differently to provide improved outcomes for patients.
We believe NLRP3 inhibition is the answer. NLRP3 inhibitors may hold the potential for incretin-like weight loss, increased response rates and better tolerability in an oral formulation with no requirement for cold chain storage. That's why we're so excited about our oral NLRP3 inhibitor NMRA-215, which we have designed with best-in-class CNS penetrant pharmacology that has translated to class-leading weight loss in DIO models and we believe will translate to the clinic.
Supporting that hypothesis are the class-leading weight loss data we announced this morning with NRMA-215. As you can see from this slide, we ran 3 DIO models. In these studies, NMRA-215 drove dose-dependent body weight loss up to 19% as a monotherapy. This weight loss is quite compelling as publications from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk on leading injectable GLP-1, such as tirzepatide and semaglutide, have demonstrated 15% to 20% weight loss in DIO models. And publications from Eli Lilly on leading oral therapeutics, such as orforglipron, have demonstrated approximately 10% weight loss in DIO studies.
Importantly, monotherapy NMRA-215 demonstrated incretin-light induction with equivalent early weight loss to semaglutide. This is a feature that no other NLRP3 inhibitor has replicated in multiple DIO studies to date. In the combination setting, NMRA-215 and a therapeutic dose of semaglutide drove 26% body weight loss at day 28, an additive effect resulting in greater body weight loss than semaglutide alone. When the target dose of NMRA-215 was combined with a subtherapeutic dose of semaglutide, it drove 18% body weight loss, suggesting the potential for an incretin-sparing combination that may offer better tolerability than high-dose semaglutide alone.
Additionally, NMRA-215 demonstrated positive effects on biomarkers in the 28-day study, suggesting higher quality weight loss. In particular, NMRA-215 drove reduced food intake equivalent to semaglutide, match semaglutide fat loss while demonstrating a statistically significant preservation of lean mass and improved the range of biomarkers. These data are compelling given the high translatability of DIO models to the clinical setting. In fact, a recent Nature publication showed a high correlation with an R equal to 0.93 from DIO rodent models to clinical studies.
Based on these results, we believe NMRA-215 has the potential to reshape the oral treatment of obesity. These data clearly show that an NLRP3 inhibitor that is optimized for achieving IC90 coverage in the brain can drive not only class-leading weight loss, but also provide peripheral benefit on a range of biomarkers, including cardiovascular ones.
I'll now turn the program over to Nick to dive into these data in more detail. Nick?
Thanks, Josh. I'll start with some brief remarks on the NLRP3 mechanism. NLRP3 is a key regulator of inflammation acting as a critical part of the innate immune system in response to both pathogens and cellular damage and is implicated in disorders involving multiple systems. It's known that NLRP3 mediated inflammation is driven by a range of factors as shown on the left-hand side of this slide. These include factors related to the aging process, underlying genetics, environmental factors and importantly, for today diets. Specifically in obesity, lipids, fatty acids and glutose amongst other obesity-related metabolites activate NLRP3. In turn, the system NLRP3 activation is linked to a range of diseases, including cardiometabolic conditions, like obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
Our approach focuses on NLRP3 inhibition in the CNS with NMRA-215 designed for high CNS penetration, so that can act directly in the brain. This is critical for its activity and obesity. NLRP3 mediated neuroinflammation specifically in hypothalamus has been linked to obesity. So targeting NLRP3 in the hypothalamus will modulate dysfunctional neuronal circuitry related to appetite and lead to decreased food intake. Literature suggests that IC90 concentration over 24 hours are required to drive reduced inflammation in the brain to impact food intake.
Beyond the brain, NLRP3 inhibition also works in the periphery, protecting organs and blood vessels from inflammation-related damage. These peripheral effects can reduce the risk of comorbid disease, for example, by improving cardiovascular outcomes and enhancing insulin sensitivity.
The requirement for IC90 concentration for activity in the brain is why we believe other NLRP3 inhibitors such as VTX3232 have demonstrated peripheral benefits on cardiovascular biomarkers, while not improving body weight, which requires both IC90 exposures in the CNS.
NMRA-215's best-in-class pharmacology enables IC90 coverage in the brain and periphery, which is why we demonstrated the class-leading weight loss and benefits in triple biomarkers we're sharing with you today. The pharmacology of NMRA-215 is what sets this program apart from our peers. We believe we've engineered the next-generation NLRP3 inhibitor with this molecule. NRMA-215 was designed to be highly potent, highly selective and optimized for brain exposure, features which contribute to its potential best-in-class profile and which we believe enables the groundbreaking weight loss data we're sharing today.
Looking at this slide, the left-hand column shows high potency of NMRA-215 across a range of assays and the middle column highlights the exquisite selectivity of NMRA-215. The right-hand column demonstrates that brain exposure is best-in-class amongst other NLRP3 inhibitors. NRMA-215 is highly permeable, has no PGP liability and with a Kpuu of 0.9, all points to high and sustained CNS penetration and achievement of IC90 concentrations in the brain, which we don't believe other sponsors such as Ventyx can achieve.
Before I review the data from our DIO model, I'll take a moment to review how the doses were selected for these studies. When selecting doses for NRMA-215, our goal was to determine the target coverage necessary for weight loss. Literature and other sponsors data suggested that you need to hit IC90 levels of target inhibition in the CNS to drive weight loss. So in our studies, we included a target dose in each study that achieved IC90 concentrations for 24 hours. Note, this target dose of NRMA-215 achieves IC90 concentrates in both the CNS and periphery based on the stringent whole blood assay. We believe this was not achieved by other NLRP3 inhibitors such as VTX3232 in recent clinical studies.
This supports our hypothesis that NMRA-215 can show best-in-class benefits in obesity, which is driven centrally as well as other benefits, including cardio protection driven in the periphery. We also tested mid and low doses of NRMA-215.
As you can see from the graph on the left on this slide, NMRA-215 is metabolized rapidly in rodents. So we opted for twice daily dosing in the DIO models to ensure 24-hour coverage. However, we plan to develop NRMA-215 as a once-daily oral treatment in humans. All characteristics of the compounding human systems and subsequent projected human doses and exposures are consistent with that.
For semaglutide, we tested a subtherapeutic dose of 1 nanomole per kg and a therapeutic dose of 3 nanomole per kg. This approach allowed us to evaluate the potential of NMRA-215 across 2 combination therapy paradigms. With a therapeutic dose combination focused on maximizing weight loss and the sub-therapeutic dose combination evaluating the potential for an incretin-sparing paradigm.
Now turning to the results of the DIO models. I'll start with the monotherapy setting. The target dose of NMRA-215 is shown in pink in each of these graphs. Across all 3 studies, NMRA-215 drove impressive body weight loss ranging from 15% to 19%. It's not just the total weight loss that's exciting though, as you can see from the Study 2 and 3 data in the middle and right-hand columns, the target dose of NRMA-215 monotherapy drug semaglutide like induction. The therapeutic dose of semaglutide is showing dark gray on these graphs. And as you can see, the NRMA-215 target dose line matches the semaglutide results throughout the entire study period.
Due to the optimized properties of NMRA-215, we may be showing for the first time the full potential of NLRP3 inhibition for incretin-like weight loss induction and overall weight loss in the monotherapy setting.
So how do these data compare to other NLRP3 inhibitors in development? First, looking at end of study results in the green roads, NMRA-215 monotherapy demonstrates class-leading weight loss, reaching a similar total of semaglutide. This is a bar, which no other NLRP3 inhibitor has been able to reach today.
Turning to day 7 results shown in blue, NMRA-215 monotherapy is best-in-class weight loss induction. You can see that NMRA-215 results at Day 7 match semaglutide across 2 independent studies, while other market participants showed dramatically less weight loss at that time point with semaglutide.
An important factor in comparing these studies is a starting way of the mice, where approximately 50 grams is generally considered standard. The mice we use were 49 grams at the start of Study 2 and 48 grams at the start of Study 3. Ventus and Ventyx also started with mice in a similar way range. In contrast, NodThera and BioAge started with a much heavier mice, weighing approximately 53 grams, which may influence the study outcome. We believe that NMRA-215's superior pharmacological properties that enables these overall strong weight loss data.
Now turning to data on NMRA-215 combined with semaglutide from the 28-day study. As you can see on the left, both the mid- and target doses of NMRA-215, combined with a therapeutic dose of semaglutide, drove greater weight loss in semaglutide alone with 26% weight loss seen in a target dose combination arm. This demonstrates that NMRA-215 produced additive weight loss beyond semaglutide alone.
On the right of the page, you can see that NMRA-215, combined with a subtherapeutic dose of semaglutide, drove significant weight loss of 18%. This suggests the potential for NMRA-215 to be combined with low dose GLP-1s in an incretin-sparing treatment regimen that may be more tolerable for patients.
Looking again at how these data compared to others in the class. NMRA-215 in the combination setting drove best-in-class weight loss, surpassing what was demonstrated by Ventyx and BioAge, who critically also use equivalent 3 nanomolar per kg doses of semaglutide in their DIO studies. Ventus used a super therapeutic semaglutide dose of 10 nanomolar per kg more than 3x higher than a semaglutide dose of 3 nanomolar per kg that NMRA-215 was combined with.
We have conducted additional analysis of these studies to understand underlying mechanisms and also related by market changes from the 28-day study. First, the graph on the left shows that NMRA-215 drove reduced food intake similar to semaglutide. These results reinforce that the weight loss seen in our DIO studies was driven by reduced appetite.
When thinking about the future of obesity treatment, it's clear that quality of weight loss will be a key driver of success for new market entrants. Body composition data is shown on the right of this slide. Here, you can see that NMRA-215 is driving high-quality weight loss, NMRA-215 and semaglutide drive equivalent fat mass loss, but when it comes to preservation of lean mass, NMRA-215 demonstrated a statistically significant preservation of lean mass compared to semaglutide.
While these data are shown comparing NMRA-215 monotherapy, semaglutide monotherapy, results were consistent in the combination setting as well.
We will now dig deeper into the positive effects NMRA-215 drove across key peripheral biomarkers. As you can see on the left, in a 28-day study, NMRA-215 drove reduced liver weight equivalent to semaglutide. This is a key measure of liver health. The middle column shows that NMRA-215 drove statistically significant reductions in total cholesterol compared to semaglutide with equivalent reductions in LDL. However, NMRA-215 demonstrated a statistically significant preservation of HDL compared to semaglutide. These results suggest that treatment with NMRA-215 may have cardioprotective benefits.
On the right of data from the insulin tolerance test showing that NMRA-215 improved insulin sensitivity equivalent to semaglutide. Note these biomarker data are highly consistent with cardioprotective findings from the DIO model Ventyx conducted with VTX3232, supporting the expected class effect of NLRP3 inhibition on CV biomarkers. Together with the impressive weight loss results we shared today, these biomarker data suggest that NMRA-215 has potential as a next-generation oral treatment that offers weight loss and benefits on key cardioprotective, liver health and insulin sensitivity biomarkers.
In summary, we set out to evaluate the potential of NMRA-215 across 3 paradigms; monotherapy, combination therapy with GLP-1s and as a maintenance treatment. The data we shared today validate the potential of this program in monotherapy with class-leading weight loss with similar induction and total magnitude results to semaglutide. These data also validates the best-in-class potential of NMRA-215 in the combination setting. Additionally, they showcase the potential of NMRA-215 to drive high-quality weight loss that preserves lean mass, differentiating it from available treatments.
Given the strong correlation in weight loss between DIO rodent studies and clinical studies, we're excited to initiate a clinical program with NMRA-215 in the first quarter of 2026. We will evaluate NMRA-215 as a monotherapy and combination therapy for obesity. We expect to deliver 12-week proof-of-concept data in humans in 2026.
Now let's transition the discussion to our V1a antagonist, NMRA-511. I will hand over to Bill, who will provide an overview of the program and host a fireside chat with Dr. Anton P. Porsteinsson. Thanks, Bill.
Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. It is well established that the vasopressin system is involved in regulating complex social and emotional behaviors across species. Within the brain, the V1a receptor is the predominant vasopressin receptor subtype, and it's been implicated in regulating anxiety, threat-related behavior, aggression and social and emotional processing. With NMRA-511, we believe we have the best-in-class vasopressin 1a receptor antagonist to modulate the vasopressin system and potentially provide a treatment option for agitation in Alzheimer's disease. Agitation in Alzheimer's disease affects over 70% of individuals living with Alzheimer's disease dementia and is among the most disruptive of AD symptoms. Managing behavioral symptoms of the disease such as agitation is an important treatment consideration as it's associated with greater carryover stress, earlier placement in long-term care facilities and increased morbidity and mortality.
As the population ages, the unmet need will continue to increase for patients, their caregivers and the health care system. Several lines of evidence indicate that V1a receptor antagonists have the therapeutic potential to reduce symptoms of agitation. These lines of evidence include preclinical and clinical studies. Preclinical studies across species support the involvement of the vasopressin system in mediating behaviors, including physiologic stress response, aggression, fear and anxiety. Rodent selectively in-bread for ultra degression and stress coping showed dysregulated vasopressin release and HPA functioning. Vasopressin-deficient rodents displayed impaired responses to threat stimuli, reduced anxiety and impaired aggression towards intruders.
Clinical studies include 2 studies in healthy volunteers and one of the studies, administration of intranasal vasopressin, increased autonomic responsiveness to threat stimuli and increased anxiety. In another study in healthy volunteers, administration of an oral V1a receptor antagonist suppressed anxiety induced by a threat test. In the third clinical study, concentrations of vasopressin in the CSF were positively correlated with levels of aggression in individuals with personality disorders. And finally, additional evidence from a Phase II placebo-controlled trial with a V1a receptor antagonist showed reduced aggressive behaviors in a subgroup of patients with Huntington's disease and irritability who demonstrated violent outbursts.
Turning now to NMRA-511 data. To date, we've evaluated the PK profile of NMRA-511 in a Phase I SAD/MAD study in healthy adults as well as healthy elderly participants in Part A of the ongoing Phase Ib study. In these populations, all doses of 511 were safe and well tolerated. There were no SAEs or discontinuations due to treatment-related AEs, and 20 milligrams of 511 BID is projected to achieve upwards of 98% receptor occupancy.
On the left, you'll see NMRA-511 demonstrated a dose-dependent PK profile in healthy adults. The graph on the right compares 40 milligrams of 511 dosed once daily in healthy adults to 20 milligrams of 511 dosed twice daily in healthy elderly participants. You can see that once-daily dosing was associated with the bigger peak-to-trough variation compared to twice-daily dosing. Combined, these data supported the selection of 20 milligrams of NMRA-511 twice daily for the Phase Ib study to maximize receptor occupancy throughout the 24-hour dosing period.
Looking more closely at the Phase Ib study design. It's important to remember that this is a 2-part signal-seeking study that is now powered to detect statistical significance. Part A is the 2-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled part of the study that was designed to assess the safety and tolerability, PK and cardiodynamics in healthy elderly participants. Part B is the 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled part of the study. The primary endpoint for Part B is the change from baseline to week 8 in CMAI total score. We're also looking to evaluate a broader range of efficacy with other endpoints like CGI and NPI as well as safety and tolerability.
The results of this study will help us to better understand the potential benefit of NMRA-511 in Alzheimer's disease agitation and to inform next steps for the program.
It's well established that there is a significant unmet need for patients with agitation related to Alzheimer's dementia and their caregivers. And as a result, we believe there's a highly compelling opportunity for a product with a differentiated benefit risk profile. The approved products have limited efficacy, carry a box warning for increased mortality in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis and have tolerability issues that can be concerning in a vulnerable population. This treatment landscape reinforces the opportunity to improve on the benefit risk profile of available therapies that can reduce agitation and possibly improve functional outcomes. Our goal is to achieve a meaningful reduction in agitation symptoms, improve patient quality of life and reduce caregiver burden.
If NMRA-511 delivers a differentiated benefit risk profile, we believe it could become a go-to option for patients and clinicians seeking alternatives for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer's disease.
To dive into this further, I'm pleased to be joined today by Dr. Anton Porsteinsson. Dr. Porsteinsson is a leading expert in Alzheimer's disease and joins us to discuss the unmet needs in this space and the potential role for emerging therapies. Welcome, Dr. Porsteinsson. It's great to have you here with us today.
Good morning, Bill and good morning, everyone, who's on the call.
Excellent. Maybe we can kick things off and I could ask if you could please share a bit about your background and experience with Alzheimer's disease.
Absolutely. My pleasure. Again, good morning, everyone. My name is Dr. Anton Porsteinsson. I'm trained as a geriatric neuropsychiatrist, and I completed my training back in the mid-1990s. Since that time, I've singularly focused on the care and study of people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. I spent about 25% of my time in an academic based, specialized memory disorders clinic and 75% of my time I spend on doing clinical research. I've done somewhere north of 350 clinical trials in my career. And the work I focus on ranges from biomarkers and imaging to prevention studies in Alzheimer's disease, intervention studies for early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease, MCI, mild, moderate disease. And with my background coming out of psychiatry, I've always been particularly interested in it as well in neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease such as agitation and aggression, psychosis, depression, apathy, et cetera. And within that space, I've helped with defining diagnostic guidelines, refine clinical trials and their operations as well as kind of the regulatory process. So glad to be here.
Great. Thank you so much. Let's discuss -- let's start off by discussing the impact of agitation in Alzheimer's disease and how it affects your patients? Specifically, how often do 80 patients present with agitation? And how does it clinically manifest and progress over the course of the disease?
Yes. Thanks, Bill. You highlighted some of it, but agitation and aggression is almost ubiquitous for patients with Alzheimer's disease as well as related dementias and that is that at some time during the course of their disease, 70% of people will experience agitation and aggression. And that can be enduring, that can be short-lived. It tends to increase as the disease wears on, becomes most frequent in the moderate stage and as well into the severe stage. But you can see agitation in particular and sometimes aggressiveness as early as the mild cognitive impairment stage. So no stage is kind of immune to it.
When you talk to patients, they experience the agitation and the distress that comes with it and caregivers identify this as probably the most disruptive component of the disease. There's one thing being kind of happily confused and working with your care partner, be that family or a professional caregiver. But if you are agitated, oppositional, angry let alone physically or verbally aggressive, it increases the burden monumentally. And this, along with incontinence, relentless incontinence are the main reasons why patients get moved to higher level of care and higher level of care is emergency rooms, urgent care, hospitalizations and admissions to memory care units as well as skilled nursing facilities. And there's nothing about going into any of these institutions that somehow minimizes the behavior. In fact, it may make the behavior even more intense because it's a new environment unfamiliar to them. So the treatment needs are not only in the outpatient setting, but they extend to these institutional settings as well.
Thank you so much for painting a picture of the clinical presentation for these patients. Can you elaborate a bit on the current treatment landscape for Alzheimer's agitation? And where do you see opportunities for emerging therapies or limitations with existing therapies?
Yes. Let me quickly step back, and there was one thing that I want to highlight, and that is that agitation and aggression at this point is a well-defined condition. We have a solid diagnostic criteria that have been explored and refined over a decade that are now accepted by regulatory bodies. So that means that we have a regulatory process here as well. Despite that, we have very limited options in terms of anything that is FDA approved. There is only 1 medication that is FDA approved for agitation and aggression in Alzheimer's disease. We have a number of medications that are used off label. I should point out that the standard of treatment is to use nonpharmacological interventions first. And that sounds easy, but it isn't. First of all, there is no set of nonpharmacological interventions or behavioral interventions that work for everyone. Number 2, they mostly work when there is mild disease, not if there is moderate or acute disease. Doesn't mean that we don't try them, but you have to augment them very frequently with medications. And they're not easy to do.
You need the people to do the interventions. They need to have training. They need to have understanding. And in most places, these resources aren't available. So we resort to medications. And the medications that are used are in some degree dictated by the treatment necessity here that you cannot not treat this even if, for the longest term, no medications were available. And it's important to understand that the treatments we use have very limited evidence of efficacy, maybe more evidence that they're not that efficacious, but they have solid evidence that they are associated with complications. And let me highlight a few of them.
So conventional antipsychotics like Haldol, that was, to some degree, replaced by atypical antipsychotics like risperidone and quetiapine, medications that showed very variable benefit, but clear problems in terms of increased all-cause mortality in terms of cerebrovascular events, in terms of worsening of disease progression, in terms of falls, increased sedation, acute kidney injury, et cetera. You mentioned that those are conventionally typical antipsychotics have boxed warnings to kind of highlight that. I also want to point that other medications. I've done a lot of work with SSRI antidepressants, and it was disappointing that last year, we showed that treatment with escitalopram did not separate from placebo and retained some of the problems that we saw with citalopram such as QTC prolongation and falls.
So even medications that are in wide use are associated with different kinds of risks in this population. And let me not start with people that are still using benzodiazepines, mood stabilizing anticonvulsants, et cetera, that have their own clear set of limitations. So we need more medications that are safe and well tolerated and have a differentiated type of action from the ones we have currently because there is so much pathophysiological variance in terms of what leads to agitation and aggression in the brain.
Great. Dr. Porsteinsson. As you sort of think a bit about emerging therapies or investigational therapies, can you please comment a bit about V1a receptor antagonism? And what interests you or appeals to you about that mechanism, really what makes this a potentially promising therapy for individuals with agitation in Alzheimer's disease?
Well, Bill, for those that know me, and I'm sure that a few of the people in the audience know me and have spoken with me before. I'm kind of a pharmacology nerd and pathway nerd. I really am intrigued by that. And I'm particularly intrigued by us discovering more and more pathways that may have a high relevance in terms of memory disease in general as well as the emotional control that is so often lost with the disease. And I highlighted the kind of pathophysiological variance before. And that pathophysiological variance actually translates into the agitation and aggression as rarely alone. It often travels with anxiety, depressive features, psychotic features, but it's the agitation that brings the kind of care needs in.
So we need other options. And what I like about the vasopressin pathway and the V1a receptor potential is that these are so strategically located. We have such a density of these receptors in the amygdala, the hippocampi areas that really have a major role in emotional control. It's kind of where the strategic sectors of that. We have the animal studies that you mentioned before in both mice and marmoset. We have the human studies that if you stimulate the AVP process, basically, you get this increased behavioral and physiological reactivity to threaten a stimuli in stressful situations.
So the pathway has face validity. Now the pathway is relatively clear, but AVP has a number of different areas of impact, for example, the kidneys. And that's why the drug that you're using has to be very specific, have high affinity for the receptor of interest. So we want to target the V1a receptor. And one of the things that interested me about the NMRA-511, and I'll probably call it 511 from now on is the high specificity for that receptor and the lack of engagement of the other receptors and particularly some of the receptors in the kidneys. So that's what interests me. And we also have just a medication that seems to be -- or a molecule that behaves well. We have the data from kind of "normal humans," we're getting the elderly PK/PD data. And soon, some of the first data about the target of interest in patients with Alzheimer's disease and meaningful agitation and aggression.
Dr. Porsteinsson you highlight the selectivity of NMRA-511 for V1a. That's really one of the differentiating features and one of the reasons we believe this is a best-in-class therapy due to selectivity for V1a over V2 or oxytocin. But when we shift and we look at clinical data, what are you hoping to see? What would you like to see achieved with 511 in the ongoing Phase Ib study that would give you confidence and data that you would want to be able to evaluate further?
Yes. So Part B of your Phase Ib study has clearly the group of interest to me, that is patients with Alzheimer's disease and agitation and aggression. You have done a good job in designing this because you need to design the study so that it's going to provide the information that you want. So you'll have the right population. You'll have a good number for a Phase Ib study, so 44 in each group. And you have multiple outcomes that all are very informative. You have the CMAI, which is an outcome that gives you granular information about the type of behaviors, the type of agitation and aggression that might be responding. And you can look at 3 different domains to see which domain might respond the best and also confirm, is this a scale that is optimal moving forward.
But then, in addition to that, because the CMAI is a caregiver only-based scale, you have a secondary outcome measures basically the CGIS, which is a clinician global impression score of severity. So an expert clinician will evaluate the patients, get history from the patient as well as the caregiver and establish specifically the severity of the agitation and aggression. You have the CGIC, or the Clinician Global Impression of Change. Now this is the modified ADCS version that targets or centers on agitation and depression. So you have an expert clinician also saying, I think this person is improved, same or worsened. And you furthermore, have a broad-based behavioral scale, the NPI, which gives you information about other behavioral domains.
Like I said before, agitation and aggression is rarely alone. We haven't talked about different types of agitation and aggression. Some fall into the effective domain, often alongside the anxiety and depression, some fall in the dysexecutive domain that is dyscontrol because people can't make sense of what's happening around them and can't control their emotions and then a domain that has a psychotic element, et cetera, et cetera. So you want to know, are we only having an impact on agitation or aggression or does it kind of spread to these other areas that are incredibly important as well to the well-being of patients and the comfort of caregivers?
So you will get a broad set of information that will give you what you need to basically take it to the next stage of development. And that's exactly and more what I would expect and hope for from a Phase Ib study. So I'm excited to see the results hopefully in the near term.
So if I hear you correctly, Dr. Porsteinsson, it's really about the overall evidence package. CMAI total score will be important, but the factors, individual factors will be things that you would look at along with CGI severity as well as the NPI and the broader set of data to help inform how you might think about the target and the data overall from the Ib study.
Absolutely. I want to be thoughtful about the fact that the CMAI is definitely not the alpha and the omega. It's one tool of many. And particularly at the early stage as we understand what targeting this pathway does. We need to look at this from multiple different viewpoints and have a well-informed foundation so that we can design the Phase II, Phase III studies that hopefully will follow. And we will also understand a lot more. We are doing a Phase Ib study. We want to understand a lot more about safety and tolerability. So far, that looks good. And if you think about the pathway, it ought to look good and the selectivity of the drug.
But we want to see that in the healthy elderly population and in this population, if basically the occasional headache is the most common side effect or is the one that we kind of see emerging that overall it's a fairly benign safety and tolerability profile because it's such a vulnerable population.
Great. Dr. Porsteinsson. Really appreciate your perspective here this morning, delighted you're able to join us and also to stay for the Q&A session, which we'll look forward to shortly.
Now I'd like to invite Nick back to review our M4 PAM franchise. Nick, over to you.
Thank you, Bill. I'm pleased to dive into our M4 franchise starting with the news announced this morning that we initiated a Phase I SAD/MAD study with NMRA-898 bringing us to 2 clinical programs in the M4 franchise. NMRA-861 and NMRA-898, structurally distinct compounds, have both shown a compelling preclinical profile, being very potent and selective for the M4 receptor with the potential for oral once-daily dosing for the treatment of schizophrenia. Given that both programs are now in the clinic with SAD/MAD studies advancing, I also want to highlight an update to our guidance for the franchise. Instead of providing piecemeal updates on each program individually, we will provide a comprehensive franchise update by mid-2026, potentially including advancing development of one or both of these programs.
So let's talk about what gives us confidence in the M4 PAM approach. Over the past 17 months, we've taken a deep and deliberate look at our M4 program, including revisiting data across the field to ensure our conviction in the target and the PAM mechanism remains strong. There are really 3 reasons why we believe. First, we believe this is a validated target with supported preclinical and clinical evidence that shows M4 is critical for antipsychotic activity. Next, nonselective muscarinic agents are unsatisfactory with respect to unwanted side effects limiting their utility. And finally, we believe targeting the allosteric site offers a more selective approach that can potentially deliver enhanced efficacy while minimizing off-target effects.
On the next couple of slides, I'll walk through each of these points in greater detail. Data from both the preclinical and clinical settings support the role of M4 as a key driver of antipsychotic activity, as shown on this slide. On the left-hand side, this preclinical data demonstrates that the M4 receptor is needed for xanomeline, the active component of Cobenfy, to have an effect in preclinical models of antipsychotic activity. While the right-hand side shows the clinical data in schizophrenia patients published by Cerevel with their M4 PAM and neurocrine with their selective M4 agonist. However, it's no secret that nonselective muscarinic agents are associated with a wide range of peripheral adverse effects.
We have seen that targeted M1, M2 and M3 receptors can lead to cardiovascular, GI and endocrine-based side effects. In contrast, M4 selective agents like our compounds show a transient cardiovascular effect with increased blood pressure and heart rate without additional peripheral side effects, highlighting the importance of receptor selectivity, which brings me to our third key point. We believe PAMs offer a clear advantage in selectivity by targeting the allosteric site on the M4 receptor, we enable greater precision in modulating M4 activity while avoiding off-target effects from other muscarinic subtypes.
In contrast, agonists in the orthosteric site often showed partial agonism, which may lead to variable clinical responses and reduced consistency of therapeutic outcomes, whereas PAMs allow for more controlled potentiation of M4 preserving the natural temporal dynamics of acetylcholine signaling, a key factor in achieving both efficacy and tolerability. This selectivity is central to our differentiated approach and supports our conviction in M4 as a best-in-class target for antipsychotic activity.
We believe our M4 PAM have the potential to be best-in-class based on both basic pharmacology and also brain penetration. As shown on this slide, our molecules have demonstrated high potency across multiple assays, which we think to be very important and is different from other sponsors are shown. Additionally, we've engineered, both NMRA-861 and 898 for high CNS exposure, optimizing for greater permeability and lower efflux so the drug is able to not only get into the brain, but importantly, stay there.
This combination of potency selectivity and brain exposure is critical for achieving robust antipsychotic activity with a cleaner safety profile, which is why we believe both compounds have best-in-class potential.
On this final slide, I wanted to briefly review 3 key objectives for the NMRA-861 and NMRA-898 SAD/MAD studies. First, confirming once-daily dosing based on the PK profile in humans; second, evaluating tolerable doses, including in people with stable schizophrenia; and finally, establish CNS penetration based on CSF exposure. As I stated, we look forward to sharing a franchise update by mid-2026.
I'll now welcome Bill back to review Navacaprant and our Phase III KOASTAL Program. Thanks, Bill.
Thank you, Nick. We are investigating Navacaprant, our kappa opioid receptor antagonist for the treatment of major depressive disorder or MDD. Kappa opioid receptors, along with their endogenous ligand, dynorphin, form a well-characterized pathway that preclinical data suggests has the potential to modulate depression, anhedonia and anxiety. The figure on the left depicts the downstream effects of KOR activation on multiple neurotransmitters, including dopamine. This activation has been shown to trigger symptoms of anxiety, depression and a mood state known as dysphoria. Conversely, KOR antagonism is believed to restore the regulation of these neurotransmitters and reward processing pathways, which is an important role in regulating mood, cognition, reward and behavior.
As a reminder, our Phase III KOASTAL Program is designed to evaluate Navacaprant monotherapy in moderate to severe MDD. We reported KOASTAL-1 data earlier this year and we've made important changes to KOASTAL-2 and 3 based on learnings from the first study. Before I dive into optimizations for KOASTAL-2 and 3, I'll briefly review the coastal study design. KOASTAL-1, 2 and 3 are each 6-week placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trials in adult patients with MDD, who have a MADRS total score greater than or equal to 25 at baseline. Primary endpoint for these studies is the change from baseline to week 6 in the MADRS total score, and the key secondary endpoint is the change from baseline to week 6 in the SHAPS total score, which is a measure of anhedonia.
Other secondary efficacy endpoints include the CGIS, the CGI-I, PHQ-9, HAM-A, SDS. In addition, key exploratory efficacy endpoints include quality of life measures.
The study design for the KOASTAL studies is consistent with FDA guidance on MDD pivotal studies and will allow us to elucidate the potential benefits of Navacaprant including efficacy on symptoms of depression as measured by the MADRS and the potential benefits on anhedonia as measured by SHAPS as well as safety and tolerability.
Turning to study optimizations based on learnings from KOASTAL-1. First, we enhanced engagement with sites around medical monitoring to confirm that patients enrolled in the studies have an independently verified diagnosis of MDD. That helps to ensure that we're appropriately engaging and enrolling patients who meet the eligibility criteria for these studies. We've added in the clinician-rated Mass General Hospital SAFER approach. SAFER is an independent review conducted by clinicians to verify the diagnosis and appropriateness of the patient population. Second, we added an additional tool called the Verified Clinical Trial screening database, aimed at identifying and excluding patients -- participants who enroll in multiple clinical trials. This is additive to the clinical trial subject database we used in KOASTAL-1 and we believe it will help to ensure appropriate patients are enrolled in our ongoing studies. Third, we reduced the number of clinical sites to those that we believe have the greatest level of expertise in conducting MDD studies.
We have already seen benefits from the added measures in KOASTAL 2 and 3. For example, SAFER and VCT have identified multiple potential participants who are not appropriate for inclusion, enabling us to exclude them from the studies. It's also important to remember that KOASTAL-2 and 3 had key differences from KOASTAL-1 before the pause earlier this year. For example, they both enrolled a higher proportion of females that is more aligned with historical MDD studies.
Additionally, the ex U.S. sites, we believe, are less likely to run into issues of professional patients given the different dynamics with sites in the European and ex U.S. regions. We look forward to sharing top line data next year when the studies read out.
Thank you for joining us today. I'll now hand the call over to Josh for closing remarks. Josh?
Thank you, Bill, and thank you, everyone, for being here today. As you've heard throughout today's presentation, Neumora has reached a critical juncture in our mission of redefining neuroscience drug development with an industry-leading pipeline and IP protection into the 2040s. Our team's hard work and momentum is captured by this outline of the multiple catalysts we expect over the next 12 months. We anticipate up to 6 distinct catalysts, each serving as a key inflection point with the potential to create significant value across our portfolio. These include additional preclinical and human proof-of-concept data with NMRA-215 in obesity, which we are excited to progress given the strong correlation and weight loss between DIO rodent studies and clinical studies, Phase Ib data in Alzheimer's disease agitation, Phase III data from Navacaprant in the KOASTAL Program. This is a pivotal time for Neumora, and we are poised for meaningful growth. Thank you.
Thank you for all your time and participation today. I'll now turn the call back over to the operator to host our Q&A session, where all of today's speakers, including Dr. Porsteinsson, will be on the line to answer your questions. Operator?
[Operator Instructions] And the first question will come from Myles Minter with William Blair.
2. Question Answer
Congrats on the updates. Just 2 questions for me, if I may, one for the company and one for Dr. Porsteinsson. First one is just you mentioned your confidence in the correlation between the DIO mouse models correlating to what you would potentially see clinically on weight loss for 215. Can you just sort of like give us an update on where that confidence stands specifically for the NLRP3 inhibitor class, obviously, considering one of your peers last week did report a Phase II study that didn't show weight loss seen in monotherapy or in a combo setting? So that's the first one.
And then the second one, Dr. Porsteinsson, would love your opinion on if there's any sort of overlap between Alzheimer's disease, agitation and psychosis? It's a question that we get a lot from investors considering some pretty heavy news flow on the psychosis side with the upcoming ADEPT-2 study for Cobenfy. So just wondering how you treat patients between agitation and psychosis? And whether they're individual indications or you would treat them together?
Myles, it's Josh here from the company. I'll take the first question, and then I'll turn it over to Dr. Porsteinsson for the second question. And so in terms of what really drives our confidence in the correlation that the DIO data is predictable what we'll see in clinical studies, I think first and foremost, as a model, the DIO is heavily predictive with what we see in clinical studies. As we referenced in the prepared remarks, the recent Nature publication has highlighted a correlation of about 0.93 and there are a range of other publications out there, all kind of pointing to a very high degree of correlation between the clinical -- the weight losses seen in DIO studies and ultimately what's seen in the clinical setting.
And so in terms of the weight loss we've seen across other NLRP3 inhibitors clinically, it frankly wasn't surprising to us that Ventyx did not show a weight loss with VTX3232 in the clinic. As you recall, they only showed about 2% weight loss in DIO studies, which actually supports that the DIO studies and the weight loss seen are correlated with what we see in the clinic. And part of the rationale behind this as we walk through it, it's clear based on evidence in the literature as well as information from other sponsors that you need IC90 concentrations in the brain ultimately to drive weight loss in these models and clinically as well as hitting high concentrations like IC90s in the periphery to drive the cardiovascular benefit.
And so based on the best-in-class pharmacology that we have for NMRA-215, we achieve IC90 concentrations both in the brain, which drives the reduction in weight and in the periphery, which as we saw and demonstrated today improves the range of peripheral biomarkers. Other sponsors with NLRP3 inhibitors do not have the same pharmacology as we do. As we've highlighted, we've really engineered for CNS penetration.
And so as we've seen other sponsors are able to achieve IC90 concentration in the periphery, which really drives the cardiovascular benefits, but they do not achieve IC90 concentration based on the whole blood assays, which is a very stringent measure in the CNS, which we think is going to be critical for driving weight loss.
And so Myles, that's really kind of the fulsome answer in terms of what gives us confidence as we look at moving from the DIO model into the clinic. And Dr. Porsteinsson, I'll turn it over to you to answer the second part of Myles's question. Thank you.
Absolutely, Myles. Good question. So yes, I mean, agitation and aggression really coexist with other behaviors very frequently. That can be anxiety, irritability, mood disorders as well as psychosis. So if we think about the overlap between agitation and aggression and psychosis, then let's start by looking at psychosis. If there is psychotic beliefs, but there is no emotional reactivity to it, no distress, no kind of upset with the participant not getting in the way of caregiving. We call those kind of quiet or silent psychosis. And it very often exists, but goes unnoticed. And people are loath to intervene with treatment because of the trouble that the current medications that are available bring.
So it is really when you see psychotic features commingle with agitation and aggression that the urgency to treat emerges. How do I deal with that? It depends on what's the stronger flavor. If someone is more nonspecifically agitated, aggressive with some mild suspiciousness, mild hesitancy about others intentions, I would focus on the agitation and the aggression alone. If this is clearly driven by a high level of paranoia or visual hallucinations or auditory hallucinations, which aren't all that common in Alzheimer's disease more maybe in dementia with Lewy bodies, I would lean more towards the psychosis spectrum. So that's kind of how I look at it. You see a lot of overlap between this, agitation and aggression as a whole kind of universe that doesn't have much of psychotic features to them. But when we look at the overlap then it depends on which type of behavior predominates and seems to maybe drive the other one.
And the next question will come from Yatin Suneja with Guggenheim.
Maybe just a couple for me. Could you also comment on how you are viewing the cardiovascular-related strategy given that there, we have seen a clear clinical biomarker data, which seems pretty robust. So that's 1 question. And then a different flavor of this question that Myles just asked, I think we get the Ventyx story. But if you look at the NodThera DIO result and you try to compare it with their clinical results, there seems to be some disconnect there. So I would love to understand from you, how do we sort of tie those 2 pieces together as it relates to sort of your molecule? And then if you can also talk about what would you like to see from a POC study that you're going to be running in Phase II obesity study?
Great. Yatin, thank you, and it's Josh here. In terms of your first question kind of on cardiovascular strategy. So our view is that NMRA-215 can offer a multitude of benefits. One is acting centrally, improving body weight loss in obesity as well as providing the peripheral benefit. And so as we think about our development strategy, we'll be coming forward probably in the early new year as we initiate first-in-human studies and providing a comprehensive overview of what we're going to do. But our plan is to look at that proof-of-concept study both in the monotherapy setting as well as the combination setting. In terms of what we're going to think about from our overall franchise strategy, we will look at a range of indications. I do think obesity will be the lead for NRMA-215, but we'll look at additional areas such as cardiovascular and inflammation where we could have added benefit as well. We do also, Yatin, have been working on a range of follow-on molecules, distinct chemical structure. This is an area where Nick and our research team have been working for a range of years.
And ultimately, we think we've got a set of good follow-on molecules that we could look at different indications whether thinking about a neurodegenerative specific condition or something specific for cardiovascular, if we wanted to go after a niche indication there where ultimately the commercial overlap on pricing and reimbursement wouldn't fit with obesity.
And so I think, Yatin, that really covers kind of the CV strategy, as I mentioned on the clinical proof of concept. We're going to look to establish it before the end of '26 in both monotherapy in combination from a 12-week perspective, but we'll come out with more specifics on study design when we pick off the first-in-human studies in the first quarter of next year.
In terms of your second question on kind of thinking about how the NodThera's DIO results translate to the clinic, I'd remind everybody of a couple of things. First and foremost, NodThera's program is a pro drug. And so ultimately, to run the DIO model, they have to use engineered humanized mice to be able to show the benefit of the pro drug. And so we don't necessarily think that it's a pure apples-to-apples comparison between what NodThera has demonstrated and what the other NLRP3 inhibitors have demonstrated.
The other thing I would remind you of is that when running these DIO studies, there are things that can impact the overall weight loss seen. One of the most important factors, Yatin, is the starting body weight. Ideally, in these studies, you want to have the starting body weight hit around 50 grams. For our Study 2 and Study 3, they were at about 49 and 48 grams, respectively. And we saw that both Ventus and Ventyx had their starting body weight in the same range. NodThera as well as BioAge had their mice slightly higher at about 53 grams. And so ultimately, they started with a heavier mice that could have impacted the results that they landed with overall in the DIO study, which could have ultimately impacted why it didn't translate to the clinic.
And then finally, I would just remind everyone the most important thing to look at in these studies beyond cross-trial comparison is within study comparisons to active control and every sponsor runs semaglutide is an active control. NRMA-215 is the only NLRP3 inhibitor that is showing that it provides total body weight loss as well as induction in the first 7 days equivalent to semaglutide. And so we think it's clear based on this evidence that NMRA-215 has shown added body weight loss benefits beyond what anyone else has seen, and we think it will fit more with the historical translation to the clinic that we've seen from other obesity products.
And the next question will come from Douglas Tsao with H.C. Wainright.
Sorry about that, I was on mute. Can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
Okay. Sorry about that. Congrats on the progress. Maybe as a starting point, Josh, I'd just be curious how you're thinking about development? I know it's still early, but obviously, there are so many different use cases you sort of outlined some as well sort of induction, subtherapeutic combination with the GLP-1 as well as maintenance. How many of those do you necessarily need to run studies and get sort of labeled indications versus an expectation that it will simply be adopted in the marketplace just given the fact this is so big, and we've already seen clinicians experiment with micro dosing, et cetera?
And then I have a follow-up for Dr. Porsteinsson on 511, if I can.
Yes, absolutely. So Doug, I think you're absolutely correct. We have seen physicians within the obesity market start to get creative and look at things like micro dosing and other combinations. So we definitely view this is an area where, as physicians get comfortable with products, they will experiment in terms of how they're thinking about utilization. In terms of our strategy, you highlighted, there's really the potential from obesity and monotherapy combination and maintenance, which I think we clearly demonstrated this morning that NMRA-215 has best-in-class potential and is equivalent to semaglutide in driving monotherapy weight loss in DIO studies as well as having an additive combination effect. And as we move into first-in-human studies, Doug, that's going to really be what we look to define a proof-of-concept over 12 weeks, both on the monotherapy and the combination setting. We will have data from a 12-week DIO study looking at maintenance therapy in the first quarter of 2026. And so as you come out with that data, we'll look at the added paradigm.
Ultimately, I think, Doug, we're going to let the clinical data guide us here, but our view is this is a product that we think could work broadly across obesity, whether you think about monotherapy combination and/or switch. And so ultimately, what is required to be on label versus investigator-sponsored studies to provide evidence, we'll hit that as we move later in development. But ultimately, we think that the path forward here for NRMA-215 is to look at it as a broad opportunity in terms of improving obesity across a range of measures, whether monotherapy combination. And then we'll also look at additional benefits. We've seen products such as semaglutide demonstrate cardiovascular benefits in larger studies. And so we will look at kind of a breadth and range of studies we have to run in late-stage development. But we completely agree with you, there is a lot to be done here, and that's why we're really excited about the data we've generated from 215 as well as the follow-on molecules that we're working on for different potential indications.
And so I guess this is a quick follow-up on that. So I guess, Josh, maybe you would sort of try to hit some sort of the big buckets knowing that you're not going to necessarily be able to cover every scenario of use of 215. But if you hit those big buckets, clinicians can then sort of do what they may in terms of if they have sort of particular niches they might want to pursue on their own?
Yes, Doug, I think that's a fair assumption for now. I do think our development strategy will look at the big markets, frankly, to get it approved for the broadest label in use that we can and then more niche indications will follow after as I mentioned, whether it's things that we take on in terms of running randomized controlled trials ourselves or whether it's in partnership with investigators as they look at investigator sponsor studies. There's a range of ways that we could ultimately look to unlock the broad potential here.
And a question for Dr. Porsteinsson. Obviously, I think you alluded to it. The primary indication is of sort of the agitation with 511. I guess, I think you sort of alluded that in these patients, and I know obviously, sort of indications like MDD are not necessarily a primary focus, but do you see a benefit by sort of reducing the level of agitation with these patients that we would ultimately see a better sort of overall mental health status with that?
Yes, Douglas, thank you. Astute question. So because of the heterogeneity, both within just a simple domain of agitation and aggression as well as the overlap with multiple other types of behaviors. And I rattled off a few anxiety depressive features, irritability, psychosis. These all layer on top of each other. And then you want to see actually a broad-based benefit. What is driving that is always a little unclear. Is it just the reduction in the agitation and depression? But I think that if we have a kind of a medication with the potential for a broader impact so that we will see some benefit in mood symptoms, some benefit in anxiety, some benefit in irritability, fearfulness, alongside the agitation and aggression, that is something that clinicians truly appreciate. They want a broad-based benefit that decreases the distress across the system. And by that, I mean not only for the patient, but also the burden for the family or professional caregivers depending on the setting.
And the next question will come from Graig Suvannavejh with Mizuho Securities.
Can you hear me okay?
Yes.
Yes, we can.
Okay. Thanks for the R&D Day updates. These were fantastic. I have lots of questions. I'll try to keep mine limited, maybe to the 511 program initially. I was just curious, and I might have missed it during your presentation, but any studies that have been done or any evidence with 511 in particular as to whether it's associated with any potential cardiovascular depression? I'm basically just trying to get at whether there's any color around the potential for falls, which particularly is an issue with an Alzheimer's patient population. Also, a next question. I know that you had mentioned in terms of the lines of evidence that 511 could be impactful here. You mentioned there was some study related to Huntington's disease. I was wondering if 511 would be considered for Huntington's disease.
And then maybe lastly on 511, with your data coming up in the fourth quarter, what are we ideally looking for? In other words, what would be good for us in terms of an outcome here for you to want to take this forward?
Great. Thanks, Doug. And I'll -- this is Josh. I'll turn it over to Bill to address the 511 questions. Bill, over to you.
Sure. When we step back and we look at the cardiodynamics, and the impact of 511. We did, as a part of Part A of the ongoing Phase Ib study, evaluate cardiodynamic effects in healthy elderly participants. Those data, as reported today, were favorable and allowed us to move forward with the 20-milligram BID dose as a part of Part B. So we are pleased with what we've seen with the tolerability and safety profile with the agent thus far.
With respect to what we hope to see with the Phase Ib data, I think as part of the overall discussion we have with Dr. Porsteinsson today, I think clinically, folks want to take a look at the overall evidence package. So there's not one specific outcome measure on the rating scale assessments that we would look at in isolation. For example, CMAI total score is an important factor. But the 3 subfactors will be quite important as will be the NPI and CGIS. So we're looking forward to taking a look at the overall data package is reflecting a fair amount of information that's clinically relevant as a part of the overall Phase Ib program that will help us to understand and identify what the next steps are as we think about the development of the agent.
And Graig, in terms of your question on would we consider Huntington's disease as the potential future indication, we're focused right now on the Alzheimer's disease agitation space. But as you noted, a publication from AzVAN did highlight some compelling and supportive evidence in HD irritability. That could be a potential indication that we would expand into downstream as well.
Great. And if I could just ask our KOL, Dr. Porsteinsson, a question. If you could comment on his experience treating Alzheimer's patients with Rexulti in terms of his experience with regards to its efficacy, safety and perhaps more interestingly, any kind of reimbursement challenges he's faced with trying to use Rexulti for Alzheimer's patients with agitation?
Yes. Let me just address that quickly. So obviously, Rexulti is an atypical antipsychotic we can probably call it a third-generation atypical antipsychotic. So it has some of the basically category burden associated with that. So the boxed warning for use in patients with Alzheimer's disease and psychosis. From a use perspective, maybe one of the challenge is that this drug was first approved for use in conditions where there are already 30, 40, 50 drugs available. So the coverage for this medication was not very generous, which was unfortunate because it is the first medication that is approved for agitation and aggression, but it carries over the tight coverage from insurance companies.
So one of the main challenges has been basically the high cost and co-pay and the hoops that you need to go through with that. And also patients kind of therefore asking to have something, kind of something similar that maybe is a little bit cheaper. So that has been in the clinic a challenge. For what's been my experience with it, in patients that have more kind of psychosis overtones or more aggressiveness, particularly physical aggressiveness. That's the spot that it has shown particular efficacy maybe in both the clinical trials and the clinical practice, which kind of, again, leaves a lot of "agitation and aggression" unmanaged.
And the next question will come from Brian Abrahams with RBC Capital Markets.
Congrats on all the progress and on the initial NLRP3 data. Two questions from me. I guess, first, both on 215. How are you thinking about the therapeutic index and your level of confidence there for the target dose of 215? I guess it seems like based on the exposure curves and the oral DIO experiment, the target dose might be substantially higher than the mid- and low doses that you looked at. So I was wondering if you could comment on that, and then the dosing that you're planning to explore in the Phase I to maintain IC90 for the full 24 hours, whether you predict you'll need BID dosing? Would you look at TID or even maybe QD dosing?
And then secondarily, just also wondering if you could comment on what you guys are going to be looking for out of the 12-week DIO maintenance study as well as the 28-day cytokine data in order to guide and shape the future opportunities that you might be exploring for the drug?
Brian, this is Josh here. Maybe I'll hit your last question first, then I'll turn it over to Nick to hit the therapeutic index and dose exploration in Phase I to hit IC90. But in terms of what we're going to be looking for out of the 12-week DIO study, really, this study is to assess a maintenance paradigm. And so as we can think about it, 1 paradigm would be to look at if we dose NMRA-215 and semaglutide in combination to see the same combination weight loss we had, and then we take semaglutide away, can 215 maintain that weight loss? I think as we've seen from recent publications from other NLRP3 sponsors that is a paradigm that I do think NLRP3 inhibitors that are able to achieve IC90 in the brain can hit.
We'll also look at another paradigm, which is ultimately, if you are -- if a mouse is taking semaglutide and reaches target weight loss, could we switch them to NMRA-215 ultimately to maintain that weight loss. And really, the rationale behind this is, as we know the biggest challenge right now with the GLP-1 therapies are the GI AEs. And as we commented on at the beginning of the presentation, about 68% of patients based on real-world evidence do not stay on GLP therapies post 1 year and about 58% don't reach the target weight loss. And it's really from the GI side effects. So the paradigms we're looking to test in the maintenance is, could you drive induction with a GLP-1 or in combination with an NLRP3 and then switch to an NLRP3 alone, which will allow long-term continuation of the weight loss without the continuation of the GI side effect.
So that's really what we're looking out for in that study. And then in terms of the 28-day cytokine panel that will be available at the end of the month, I think we'll be looking for updates consistent with what we've seen from other sponsors. But maybe I'll let Nick quickly comment just around IL-1 beta and what we've seen from that and other studies.
Yes, Josh. So in terms of work we've done prior to DIO study, we always look at IL-beta and IL-18 is critical downstream endpoints. And in all those prime models, we see very, very fast reversal of elevation in both of those site declines. We'll have the DIO 28-day data panel very in the near term. So we're looking forward to getting that data.
And then, Brian, I think your other 2 questions were around the therapeutic index that we're running in the DIO models. And then ultimately, I think the real question here is, how are we thinking about dose exploration to maintain IC90 in the clinic?
Yes. Brian. So yes, looking at the data we have on Slide 16, really for us, that target dose is the critical one. I think in all of our work now and as I mentioned, other sponsors, you have to be at IC90 over the whole 24 hours. And because of how 215 behaves in rodents, we had to do the BID dosing. The other 2 doses, I don't think there's anything untoward about them there. There were 2 doses as we just really tried to understand, as I mentioned, what we needed to achieve with 215 to get really strong weight loss data. And I think with the target that we really think we're looking now that we're maximizing that potential of this mechanism. As we look to our clinical dosing, obviously, NRMA-215 behaves very different in all of our human system studies we've done. And so we've booked on a lot of work as we try and look at our projected human doses. And because of how 215 will behave in man, we're confident that we will have a once-a-day drug, which will achieve IC90 in the brain over 24 hours.
In terms of therapeutic index, we feel we're in a very good spot as of now, whether it's looking at a safety of this mechanism in the hands of other sponsors, but also the data we have in our non-GLP and GLP studies today, we feel our human projected dose, we have really great margins to where we see anything in the preclinical model. So yes, I feel really good where we are right now.
And the next question is going to come from Paul Matteis with Stifel.
This is Matthew on for Paul. Congrats on all the progress. So my question is on the 215 mouse data. Could you help us understand the rationale for using oral formulation in 1 study and subcutaneous for 2 study? And does the target dose use the same for both oral and subcutaneous, or was it adjusted for bioavailability? And then how much should we read into the differences in the weight loss between the oral and subcutaneous? Were there any differences in the protocol there?
So Matt, this is Josh. I'll hit those really quick. So we wanted to look at oral and subcu, just look, frankly, at 2 different dosage forms to see if we could get similar results, which we absolutely did. And in terms of comparing the results, we did a PK study to look at the target dose subcu and make sure that it matched the target dose that we were using orally. And so ultimately, we feel like the oral subcu and the -- or the oral target and the subcu target are delivering the same IC90 coverage over the full 24-hour period.
And our next question comes from Ami Fadia with Needham.
Congrats on all the updates, particularly on NRMA-215. Maybe if I can just start with a quick follow-up on NRMA-215. As you enter the clinic, would you be studying multiple QD doses? Or do you believe that you have done the work to really identify the 1 dose that can help achieve IC90? And then with regards to NMRA-511, can you talk about sort of what you believe is going to be in the regulatory requirement in terms of the endpoints that the FDA would like to see ultimately for registration?
And from a mechanism perspective, do you expect to see variability in the -- sort of in the magnitude of effect across patients based on the severity levels? And maybe if you could talk to how you're thinking about kind of the mix of mild, moderate and severe patients in the Phase I?
Ami, this is Josh. I'll answer the 215 question, then I'll turn it over to Bill for the 511 component. So in terms of what we're planning to do in the clinic, what we do put NMRA-215 into the clinic, we will conduct a standard SAD/MAD study, where we'll look at dose escalation. So obviously, in first-in-human studies, the primary purpose is to establish safety and tolerability. Our plan, though, does involve us looking to dose escalate up to levels where we do achieve IC90 concentrations in the brain. And then once we have that confirmed, looking to running longer term, potentially MAD studies up to 12 weeks, that will really help us generate the human proof-of-concept in both the monotherapy and the combination setting. And so that's what we're planning to do.
As Nick mentioned previously, we've got a high degree of confidence that we'll be able to dose once-daily, achieving IC90 concentrations in the brain in humans. So Bill, I'll turn it over to you now to address the 511 questions on regulatory requirements for registration and how we think about variability of results just based on baseline patient severity.
Sure. Thanks, Ami, for the question. So when we think about the 1 agent that is currently FDA approved, it was based on the CMAI total score, but we do know from the FDA correspondence that they do want to take a look at the factors within the CMAI. So we'll be taking a look at those factors as well as the NPI, CGI severity, but we do know the primary efficacy endpoint for regulatory approval is CMAI total score, but much of this, given the unmet need and limited treatment options that are available, will really result in us wanting to look at the overall evidence package as we think about the next phase of development and our overall regulatory strategy.
Got it. That's helpful. If I have time for 1 more question, just with regards to the 2 M4s. Can you sort of talk about where you see the differences translate between the two? Obviously, the Slide 38, lays out the differences across multiple metrics between 861 and 898. But I guess what's the hypothesis for picking these 2 to move forward to this stage? And what do you hope to sort of test out by evaluating both of them?
Ami. it's Nick here. So I think on that slide, you talk to, if you look at the information we've put out on the 2 compounds. When you look at basic properties, they both share a set of features, which we optimized around. So we really like the profile of both whether it's potency and selectivity, but also the CNS penetration attributes to both compounds critically for us as we were bringing forward these 2 new compounds, it was to have 2 structurally distinct molecules. And these molecules are very, very different. So that was our key feature. As we move forward, as we get data in our SAD/MAD studies, there may be data which makes us select one or try to bring both of them forward into further development. As of right now, we were really focused on a set of KOR properties, which we thought would distinguish these from our competitors. So we're really pleased with the profiles of both.
Can I just comment on one thing. This is Anton Porsteinsson because Ami mentioned the magnitude of effect based on severity as part of her question as well. So I basically want to kind of highlight that you need to have a certain degree of severity so that you can see a treatment response. And I think that for the Phase Ib study, we have to understand that there -- it's a sizable Phase Ib study, but it's not the power that we expect to be able remotely to look at subgroups.
But I would like to have people with moderate and maybe close to severe level of behavioral disruptions. And if the mean score on the CMAI at baseline is somewhere in the high 60s to high 70s, that will be very informative because it also allows us to kind of compare a little bit what we might see in someone that is kind of on the lower intensity of behavior versus higher intensity of behavior. And I know that the inclusion criteria allowed for that in the Phase Ib study.
This does conclude today's question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back to Paul Berns for closing remarks.
Well, thank you, operator, and thank you to all participants this morning for your time and participation today. And a big thank you to the entire Neumora team for their relentless commitment to make novel new therapies, which have the potential to extend and enhance human life. So with that, I wish everyone a good day.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You now disconnect.
Neumora Therapeutics — Special Call - Neumora Therapeutics, Inc.
Financial data from Neumora Therapeutics
Revenue
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Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
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Company Profile
Neumora Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. It offers a precision medicine approach for brain diseases through the integration of data science and neuroscience. The firm focuses on advancing medicines for therapeutically relevant targets implicated in CNS diseases, targeting novel mechanisms of action with best-in-class pharmacology. The company was founded by Paul L. Berns, Carol Suh and Mike Poole in November 2019 and is headquartered in Watertown, MA.
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| Head office | United States |
| CEO | Mr. Berns |
| Employees | 96 |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Website | neumoratx.com |
