LB Pharmaceuticals raising $75M for schizophrenia drug as Karuna looks to change the field

As Karuna Ther­a­peu­tics wraps up its FDA ap­proval re­quest for what could be the first new type of schiz­o­phre­nia drug in decades, an­oth­er East Coast biotech is rais­ing $75 mil­lion to test an ad­just­ed ver­sion of a decades-old med­i­cine for the dis­or­der next year.

LB Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals has se­cured about $35 mil­lion so far and ex­pects an­oth­er $40 mil­lion in the round, ac­cord­ing to an SEC fil­ing on Thurs­day. Per the fi­nan­cial doc­u­ment, its board in­cludes di­rec­tors as­so­ci­at­ed with Vi­da Ven­tures, Pon­tif­ax, Deep Track Cap­i­tal and TCGX, a crossover firm that has in­vest­ed in mul­ti­ple nine-fig­ure biotech fi­nanc­ings in re­cent months, in­clud­ing Car­mot Ther­a­peu­tics, Alkeus and Up­stream Bio.

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