Potential best-in-class lead program targets Nav1.8, a validated human target for pain
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Feb. 14, 2024 — Latigo Biotherapeutics Inc. (“Latigo”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing best-in-class non-opioid pain medicines that target pain at its source, today announced its emergence from stealth with a $135 million Series A financing. Westlake Village BioPartners (“Westlake”) incubated the company. Westlake led the Series A financing with 5AM Ventures and Foresite Capital as co-leads with participation from Corner Ventures.
The company has appointed Desmond Padhi, Pharm.D., operating partner at Westlake as interim chief executive officer (CEO) and Nancy Stagliano, Ph.D., CEO of Neuron23, Inc., as chair of the board. Proceeds from the financing will support the continued advancement of Latigo’s portfolio of novel pain therapeutics and the growth of the company and its platform.
The Thousand Oaks-based company was founded by Westlake in 2020, reinforcing Westlake’s commitment to building world-class biotech companies in the Los Angeles area. Recruiting local talent with expertise in neuroscience, pain, and drug discovery allowed Latigo to innovate and quickly advance to a clinical stage.
“It is particularly gratifying for me to participate in the evolution of Latigo over the past several years since its inception,” said Dr. Padhi. “With a strong syndicate of investors and the significant capital we’ve raised, we are well positioned to build a company that provides new therapeutic options to patients with pain. Latigo’s targets are identified by human genetics, grounded in human biology, and characterized using state-of-the-art human model systems. This combination increases our probability of success across the development continuum.”
Latigo’s lead program, LTG-001, is an oral, selective Nav1.8 inhibitor currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers and intended to treat acute and chronic pain. LTG-001 has the potential to be best-in-class with a rapid onset, meaningful efficacy, and superior safety to standard of care with no central nervous system effects. In addition to LTG-001, the company has a suite of Nav1.8 inhibitors, enabling Latigo to address the broad potential of such a target in the clinic.
Beyond Nav1.8, the company has a pipeline of novel, genetically identified targets with small molecule programs at the discovery stage.
“Until recently, there was little innovation in pain therapeutics. Current treatments have significant liabilities – opioids carry the risk of dependency, while NSAIDs can be poorly tolerated with long term use,” said Dr. Stagliano. “Today, with a potentially best-in-class clinical-stage Nav1.8 inhibitor as our lead program, Latigo is fulfilling its vision of developing non-opioid therapies for patients suffering from acute and chronic pain where there is a significant high unmet need for new treatments.”
About Latigo Biotherapeutics
Latigo Biotherapeutics Inc., headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA, is a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company developing best-in-class non-opioid pain medicines that target the fundamental mechanism of pain transduction. The company’s proprietary, in-house technology generates novel drugs against targets validated by human genetics using the most advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, structure-based, and knowledge-based design techniques to optimize potency and selectivity. The company is backed by top-tier investors, including Westlake Village BioPartners, 5AM Ventures, Foresite Capital, and Corner Ventures. For more information, please visit https://latigobio.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
SOURCE Latigo Biotherapeutics
