Neumora Therapeutics

Data-driven neuroscience biotech with ~$1B raised; lead drug failed three Phase 3s and the company now runs with no wet lab.

1. Core Product / Service

Neumora was incorporated in November 2019, incubated by ARCH Venture Partners, and launched in October 2021. Amgen joined as a strategic investor and licensor in September 2021 [1][3]. Its "Precision Toolbox" integrates translational and clinical tools with "proprietary machine learning algorithms" to stratify patients in neuropsychiatric trials. The AI is aimed at patient selection, not molecule design, and every asset was in-licensed or acquired [3].

Pipeline (Oct 2026) [1][2][4]:

• Navacaprant (KOR antagonist, major depression; from BlackThorn/Scripps): KOASTAL-1 (Jan 2025), KOASTAL-2 and KOASTAL-3 (June 2026) all missed. Development was discontinued.
• NMRA-511 (V1aR antagonist, Alzheimer's agitation): positive Phase 1b signal; Phase 2 planned by end-2026.
• NMRA-898 (M4 PAM, schizophrenia): Phase 1.
• NMRA-215 (brain-penetrant NLRP3, obesity): a 13-week rat toxicology study showed unexpected findings. The company repeated it "with a different contract research organization" with favourable results; IND planned Q4 2026.

Wet lab. As of 2026 Neumora has no in-house laboratory. Its ~30,000 sf Watertown office/lab sublease expired in June 2025. During 2025 it sold or disposed of lab equipment with a gross book value of $2.8M (for $0.2M), and net PP&E was $25K at mid-2026 [1][2]. It now subleases ~10,000 sf of office space only. Drug substance and product come entirely from CMOs, and preclinical, toxicology and clinical work runs through CROs. No vendor is named [1].

2. Target Users & Pain Points

• Patients: depression, Alzheimer's agitation, schizophrenia, Parkinson's and obesity-related neuroinflammation.
• Pain addressed: heterogeneous psychiatric populations dilute drug effects. The thesis was that ML-based patient stratification would rescue effect sizes. The navacaprant Phase 3 results did not support it for that drug [4].

3. Competitive Landscape

4. Unique Observations

• A clean test of "AI for trial design" alone. Neumora had in-licensed molecules and an ML stratification layer, with no proprietary chemistry. Three negative Phase 3s show that stratification did not rescue the lead drug. The "Precision Toolbox" appears progressively less often in filings (12 mentions in the FY2023 10-K, one in the Q2 2026 10-Q) [1][2].
• From lab-equipped to fully virtual. Selling all lab equipment and shrinking from 124 staff (end-2023) to 63 (mid-2026) makes Neumora the endpoint of the asset-light spectrum among its peers [1][2].
• CRO dependency shows up in the data. A tox anomaly attributed to "study conduct" forced a CRO switch and a repeat study, a concrete cost of a fully outsourced model [1].

5. Financials / Funding

• Bridge notes $55.9M (2020); Series A-2 ~$315M (2020–21); Amgen $100M cash plus licences paid in stock (2021); Series B $112.4M (2022) [3].
• IPO (Nasdaq: NMRA), Sept 2023: ~$250M gross at $17. ATM sales and a K2 HealthVentures term loan followed [1][3].
• Cumulative equity is roughly $1.0B (derived; company statements vary between "over $600M" pre-IPO and "approximately $850M").
• Cash $116.8M at 2026-06-30, with a going-concern warning. Market cap was ~$70M on 2026-10-14 [2][5].

6. People & Relationships

• CEO: Joshua Pinto (since Aug 2026; previously CFO and President). Executive Chair: Paul Berns (ARCH; co-founder) [1].
• Former CEO Henry Gosebruch and R&D head Rob Lenz departed in Feb 2025 after KOASTAL-1 [1].
• Partners / investors: Amgen, ARCH, Mubadala Capital.

Sources

• [1] Neumora Therapeutics Form 10-K FY2025, SEC EDGAR (2026-10-14)
• [2] Neumora Form 10-Q Q2 2026, SEC EDGAR (2026-10-14)
• [3] Neumora IPO prospectus (424B4, Sept 2023), SEC EDGAR (2026-10-14)
• [4] Neumora KOASTAL-2/3 results press release (8-K Ex. 99.1), SEC EDGAR (2026-10-14)
• [5] StockAnalysis, NMRA quote (2026-10-14)