Backed by ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital and Mubadala Capital, the new company will develop a pipeline of brain-penetrant small molecules to address inflammation, metabolic dysfunction and restoring lysosomal function.
Tenvie Therapeutics has launched with $200 million and a clutch of assets from Denali Therapeutics to go after neurological diseases with small molecules.
Backed by ARCH Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital and Mubadala Capital, the new company will develop a pipeline of brain-penetrant small molecules to address inflammation, metabolic dysfunction and restoring lysosomal function. Tenvie will focus on neurological, cardiometabolic and ophthalmic diseases.
Tenvie did not reveal how much was paid for the Denali assets or which programs in its pipeline came from the more mature biotech. The new company’s pipeline includes four neurology candidates, with an NLRP3 inhibitor and an allosteric SARM1 inhibitor in investigational new drug–enabling studies.
The new company emerges days after Denali reported the failure of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis candidate in the Phase II/III HEALEY ALS platform study. DNL343 was unable to significantly slow disease progression versus placebo in patients with ALS, according to the release. In February 2024, Denali also reported the failure of a Sanofi-partnered ALS asset.
Leading the new company is Tony Estrada, who previously served as head of discovery sciences at Denali. Denali’s Chief Scientific Officer Joe Lewcock will serve on Tenvie’s board.
