SAGE Therapeutics Raises $35M in Series A Funding from Third Rock Ventures

SAGE Therapeutics, a Boston, MA-based newly formed company that focuses on building central nervous system (CNS) products, has raised $35m in Series A funding from Third Rock Ventures.

Founded by Steven Paul, M.D., the former executive vice president for science and technology and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, and Douglas Covey, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the Washington University School of Medicine, and led by Kevin Starr, partner at Third Rock Ventures and interim chief executive officer, SAGE Therapeutics is advancing a pipeline of new treatments for some of the most disabling central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, pain and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The company is based on a proprietary Positive and Negative Allosteric Modulator (PANAM) chemistry platform that will enable the rapid development of a novel class of allosteric receptor modulators.

Advisors include:
– Jim Audia, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Constellation Pharmaceuticals;
– David Farb, Ph.D., professor and chair of pharmacology at Boston University School of Medicine;
– A. Leslie Morrow, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine;
– Christine Marx, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University;
– Stephen Moss, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience at Tufts University;
– Michael Rogawski, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of neurology at University of California at Davis; Scott Runyon, Ph.D., principal investigator at RTI International;
– Donald Stein, Ph.D., professor of emergency medicine at Emory University;
– Steven Traynelis, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at Emory University; and
– Charles Zorumski, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of psychiatry at Washington University.

FinSMEs

18/10/2011

Join the discussion