Neurosterix has closed a 105 million dollar Series B financing, Addex Therapeutics announced on November 11. The Geneva and Boston company was spun out of Addex in April 2024 with a 65 million dollar Series A led by funds affiliated with Perceptive Advisors. Addex did not invest in the new round, which it described only as coming from a syndicate of leading life science investors, and its stake falls to 8.5 percent of Neurosterix’s issued capital, carried at a valuation of 18.6 million dollars.
The money is mainly for NTX-253, an oral, highly selective positive allosteric modulator of the muscarinic M4 receptor, now headed into Phase 2 testing in schizophrenia. The M4 mechanism modulates dopamine signaling indirectly and is designed to reduce psychosis symptoms without the movement disorders and metabolic complications of traditional dopamine-blocking antipsychotics. Neurosterix has completed Phase 1 single and multiple ascending dose studies of NTX-253, with data the company says support the move into larger Phase 2 trials. Endpoints News reported the company has also recruited veterans of Cobenfy, Bristol Myers Squibb’s muscarinic antipsychotic, including Karuna’s Andrew Miller as executive chair.
The rest of the pipeline is earlier: NTX-819, a potentially first-in-class mGlu7 negative allosteric modulator for mood and anxiety disorders, and NTX-529, a second M4 modulator aimed at other psychosis and mood conditions.
The financing extends the industry’s post-Cobenfy bet on muscarinic drugs. Cobenfy’s approval proved regulators will accept the mechanism; the open commercial question is whether a selective M4 modulator can match its efficacy with a cleaner profile, which only the Phase 2 readout will answer. For Addex, listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and Nasdaq, the transaction converts an operating program into a minority financial stake, and the 18.6 million dollar carrying value is now the market-facing trace of that decision.