Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals Raises $39 Million in Series B Funding to Advance Mental Health Treatments

Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company developing a portfolio of rapid-acting and durable treatments for depression and other mental health disorders, has announced the closing of a $39 million Series B round of funding.  The round was led by Prime Movers Lab with additional investment from Alumni Ventures, Palo Santo, Negev Capital, Route 66, JLS Fund, Satori Capital and Gron Ventures. The additional capital will be used, in part, to further advance Gilgamesh’s 2 lead programs, GM-1020 and GM-2505 through Phase 1/1b safety and efficacy studies.

Gilgamesh is also advancing multiple discovery programs that will fuel its pipeline over the coming years. To enable this effort, Gilgamesh uses a platform of cutting-edge preclinical technologies to guide compound selection, including machine-learning analysis of animal behavior and high-resolution electrophysiology, through collaborations with leading academic laboratories (for more details refer to the recent article in Nature Biopharma Dealmakers).

To further bolster Gilgamesh’s discovery efforts, John Macor Ph.D. has joined as a Senior Adviser. Dr. Macor recently served as the Global Head of Integrated Drug Discovery at Sanofi and is presently Chief Scientific Officer at Sionna Therapeutics. He will leverage his decades of chemistry and discovery expertise, including in serotonin and NMDA receptor structure-activity relationships (SAR), to advance Gilgamesh’s pipeline of neuropsychiatric treatments. Dr. Macor is an inductee of the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame, and is a co-inventor of two marketed drugs (Relpax™ and Nurtec™ ODT).

“More than 280 million people suffer from depression around the world, yet the way we treat depression has remained stagnant for decades. Our mission is to fundamentally reshape the treatment of mental illness,” said CEO and co-founder Dr. Jonathan Sporn. “Despite a general dip in fundraising in the life sciences sector this year, companies with strong science and strategy, such as Gilgamesh, are still able to raise capital. We are excited to continue our partnership with Prime Movers Lab to bring our most promising treatments into phase 1 trials.”

“Gilgamesh has made significant strides with its trial candidates and built a world-class team,” said Prime Movers Lab General Partner and Gilgamesh Board Member Amy Kruse. “Gilgamesh is positioned at the forefront of an emerging revolution in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, with a pipeline of novel agents that advance the therapeutic effects of psychoactive substances.”