Nura Bio Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing neuroprotective small molecule therapies, announced on Monday that it has completed a USD73.8m Series B financing. The company also reported progress in its two clinical-stage SARM1 inhibitor programmes.

The financing was led by The Column Group, with participation from Euclidean Capital, Samsara BioCapital, and Sanofi Ventures. Funds will support the development of Nura Bio's clinical pipeline, including the Phase 1b/2a study of NB-4746, its oral, brain-penetrant SARM1 inhibitor, which recently commenced dosing in ALS patients.

According to Nura Bio, NB-4746 has been shown to prevent axon degeneration driven by the SARM1 protein, providing neuroprotection in multiple preclinical models of nerve injury and disease, including ALS. In a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers, NB-4746 demonstrated a favourable safety profile and achieved target plasma and cerebrospinal fluid exposure levels.

Nura Bio has also commenced dosing of an oral, covalent, allosteric SARM1 inhibitor, NB-9402, in a first-in-human study. The company says that NB-9402 has demonstrated high potency and long-lasting efficacy in preclinical models of neurological diseases.

"With NB-4746 actively enrolling ALS patients in a Phase 1b/2a study and the rapid advancement of NB-9402, our next generation covalent allosteric SARM1 inhibitor, into a Phase 1a study, we have built a portfolio of SARM1 inhibitors uniquely positioned to fully explore and validate the broad therapeutic potential of this target," said Shilpa Sambashivan, Nura Bio CEO.