As a father, husband, son, and scientist I dream of a world where no neurological disease is beyond our reach, where we don't shy away from targets because they seem too risky. A world where every neurological disease, no matter how tough, is druggable. Today, with the unveiling of Montara Therapeutics, Inc., I hope to contribute to making that dream a reality.
At my previous company, Mitokinin, we worked for nearly a decade to develop a potential disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson's disease. During that process, I learned how difficult it is to generate safe and effective drugs for many of the neurological diseases that millions suffer from worldwide. After Mitokinin was acquired last fall, I knew that I wanted to start a new company to address some of the other tough-to-drug neurological indications, including Alzheimer's disease, brain cancers, and neuropsychiatric indications.
When Kevan Shokat, who was my Ph.D. supervisor University of California, San Francisco and scientific co-founder of Mitokinin, came to me with new research from his lab suggesting a pharmacological mechanism to block drugs from working in the periphery, thereby mitigating their adverse side effects, I immediately recognized the impact this could have, not for the treatment of just one or two diseases, but across nearly all neurodegenerative and neurological diseases and brain cancer.
Together, with the help of our other scientific co-founders, Martin Kampmann and Thomas Südhof, a highly experienced team of advisors, as well as nine stellar employees from Mitokinin, we formed Montara Therapeutics to progress this groundbreaking research from bench to bedside, developing safer and more efficacious treatments for various diseases of the brain.
Today, we’re thrilled to announce the funding of our seed round. With support from top-tier investors, including SV Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), Two Bear Capital, KdT Ventures, and Dolby Family Ventures, I believe we have the right ingredients to accomplish our mission, and I’m very excited for what the future has in store for Montara, but most importantly, for patients
We look forward to sharing more details in the months to come. Follow Montara Therapeutics, Inc. to stay updated on our progress. Thanks to Amber Tong and Endpoints News for the exclusive!
Congratulations, FemHealth Ventures and Maneesha Ghiya. excited about the potential for postpartum depression (PPD) treatment given the standard of care. Congrats on continuing to advance mental health and quality of life for new mothers and families.