Nocion Therapeutics, Inc.

WATERTOWN, MA, USA I July 15, 2024 I Nocion Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule charged sodium channel blockers called “nocions”, that selectively affect actively firing nociceptors for the treatment of serious conditions involving cough, itch, and pain, today announced the presentation of progress in the development of taplucainium, a novel, charged sodium channel blocker, as a potential treatment for chronic cough at the 13 th London International Cough Symposium. The presentation and poster will be given by Bernard Silverman, MD., Nocion’s Chief Medical Officer. “We are excited with the strong progress that we have made developing taplucainium as a treatment for chronic cough with the ability to address this significant unmet medical need,” said Dr. Silverman. “We look forward to the start of our ASPIRE (Phase 2b) clinical trial of taplucainium in 240 chronic cough patients in the second half of 2024.” ABOUT TAPLUCAINIUM Taplucainium (formerly NTX-1175) is a proprietary molecule in the novel class of charged sodium channel blockers that allows for specific silencing of activated/inflamed nociceptors while having minimal local off-target effects or systemic exposure. Unlike other investigative cough therapies, such as P2X3-antagonists, TRPA1-antagonists and TRPM8-agonists, which target a specific large pore channel, taplucainium works downstream by selectively targeting the sodium channels in activated nociceptors which are the target of these large pore channels. Taplucainium is formulated into a dry powder for inhalation and, once inhaled, gains access to the pulmonary nociceptors through any open large pore channel including P2X, TRPV, TRPA and TRPM channels whereupon it inhibits the sodium channels responsible for initiating the pathological cough response. The broader mechanism of taplucainium has shown significant antitussive effects in preclinical models of cough. Combined with good preliminary safety and efficacy data from earlier stage clinical work, this forms the basis for its investigation not just in chronic cough but in other cough indications as well. ABOUT NOCION Nocion Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule charged sodium channel blockers called “nocions” that selectively affect actively firing nociceptors for the treatment of serious conditions involving cough, itch, and pain. The company’s mission is to safely alleviate suffering for millions of patients with conditions arising from activated sensory neurons. Working with Harvard’s Office of Technology Development, Nocion was founded on an exclusive license to foundational intellectual property from Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital. Venture investors in Nocion include Arkin Bio Capital, Canaan Partners, F-Prime Capital, Lumira Ventures, Mass General Brigham Ventures, Mission BioCapital, Monograph Capital, Morningside and Osage University Partners. For more information, visit: www.nociontx.com . SOURCE: Nocion Therapeutics

Canaan Partners' fresh $100 million follows an $850 million fund announced last year. What’s another $100 million tacked onto a previously raised $850 million? Evidently, for venture firm Canaan Partners, tons.  The private financing outfit has added a fresh nine-digit sum a year after closing its thirteenth fund. General Partner Julie Grant told Fierce Biotech that the money will act as a designated pool for biotech investments.  “The additional capital that's been raised will be invested alongside the main fund,” she said. “It will allow us to do more deals in biopharma with the exact same strategy of going for early company formation, syndicated series A and syndicated series Bs and Cs.”  The cash extends the total amount raised since early 2023 past $1 billion, with nearly half of the capital designated for the firm’s healthcare team. Think of the extra $100 million as a cherry on top for the biopharma investors. The other half of the roughly $1 billion will be for Canaan’s technology investors, with previous bets being placed on startups like Instacart and Turo, among others. Grant says the company plans to invest in 15 to 16 companies over the next three years using the money raised over the last year-plus.  The firm has jumped aboard at least two biotech raises so far this year, including Nocion Therapeutics’ $62 million raise, money that's expected to be used to advance an inhaled chronic cough med. Canaan also contributed to Alterome Therapeutics’ $132 million series B led by Goldman Sachs. Alterome is working on developing small-molecule, precision cancer treatments.  It’s not just capital that Canaan is adding. Joining the team as a venture partner is Uwe Schoenbeck, Ph.D., who is coming across from Pfizer. Schoenbeck previously served as senior vice president and chief scientific officer of the Big Pharma’s emerging science and innovation unit under the larger R&D umbrella. That team worked to bridge early science and young biotechs with Pfizer’s R&D ecosystem, an effort that included Pfizer’s Center for Therapeutic Innovation. That initiative, in particular, helped introduce many new medicines to Pfizer’s pipeline, including an anti-TLA1 asset that was sold to Roivant, which flipped it to Roche for $7.1 billion. But a Pfizer spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech yesterday that the unit's labs have been closed as part of a multi-billion-dollar cost-cutting plan.  Schoenbeck's role at Pfizer meant he has been familiar with Canaan's work for around 10 years, he told Fierce in an interview. “As part of my Pfizer role, we had been heavily engaged in Pfizer venture investments,” Schoenbeck said. “So we did have a number of engagements with quite a few VC companies over the years, that included Canaan.” One area that Canaan has not yet dipped its toe into is the metabolic disease area. The ascending GLP-1 class has spurred a frenetic race among investors to place bets on biotechs developing obesity medications that could carve out billions in revenue down the line. Schoenbeck expects Canaan will make “targeted” investments in the broader cardiometabolic space in the future.  “You have to make sure … you're properly positioned to really have a cutting edge versus the other, you know, hundreds of programs that have surfaced over the last year or two," he said. 

Pictured: Photo illustration of hundred dollar bill and graph/iStock, Darren415 Healthcare and technology-focused venture capital firm Canaan is adding $100 million in new capital to its biopharma investment funds, the company announced Wednesday. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm’s injection of new funds will bring the company’s total amount raised since early 2023 to over $1 billion. In April 2023, Canaan announced it had secured $850 million and had started a new fund called Canaan XIII, with the healthcare portion aiming to help create biopharmaceutical and therapeutic companies. The fund is also looking to invest in companies tackling unmet clinical and medical needs, including potential investments in the oncology, immunology, neurology, cardiology and respiratory sectors. Canaan has also added to its investment team by bringing on board Uwe Schoenbeck, formerly the senior vice president and chief science officer of emerging science and innovation at Pfizer’s worldwide research, development, and medical division. Schoenbeck’s responsibilities at Pfizer included working on external breakthrough science and assets and being responsible for a cross-therapeutic portfolio through Pfizer’s academic partnering model, the Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI). According to Canaan, Schoenbeck’s leadership at Pfizer advanced several CTI projects into Phase II and Phase III and saw him forming several early external companies through seed and equity investments. Before working at Pfizer, Schoenbeck was vice president of emerging R&D at Wyeth and vice president of cardiovascular research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “It is not often that we have the opportunity to add someone of Uwe’s caliber and track record to the Canaan investment team. He is a particularly good fit for Canaan as he shares our vision for how to identify breakthrough science, team with entrepreneurs, create and support biopharma companies, and, ultimately, advance patient care,” Tim Shannon, general partner at Canaan, said in a statement. Schoenbeck has already hit the ground running with Canaan as he led the firm’s participation in the $132 million Series B for Alterome Therapeutics earlier this month and became a member of the biotech’s board of directors. “Our healthcare and technology teams have been diligently making progress executing investments in partnership with entrepreneurs to create and support transformational companies. The addition of Uwe and the new funds we raised will enable us to continue advancing today’s most innovative science to produce important new medicines capable of addressing significant unmet needs of patients around the world,” John Pacifico, general partner, COO and CFO of Canaan, said in a statement. Last month, Canaan also contributed to the $62 million Series B of Nocion Therapeutics to help advance its candidate to treat chronic cough. Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.