Leadership: Klaus Veitinger, chief executive officer, and Dr. Thomas Beck, founder and chief medical officer.
Headquarters: Milwaukee
What it Does: Pharmaceutical development for neuropsychiatric disorders
Founded: 2007
Employees: 6
Next goal: Complete Phase 2 study for lead compound; embark on Phase 3 study.
Funding: Nearly $31 million in investor funding raised.
Credit: Lila Aryan
Trichotillomania is a neuropsychiatric disorder afflicting about 1 percent of the U.S. population. Those with the condition pull out their own hair.
After a promising Phase 1 clinical trial, Milwaukee-based Promentis Pharmaceuticals Inc. in December entered Phase 2 of clinical trials for a drug to treat the condition, which is believed to be exacerbated by glutamatergic imbalance and oxidative stress – factors Promentis’ compound targets. And Promentis has raised most of a $26 million Series C round of investor funding to fuel its next stage of growth, with Brookfield-based Golden Angels Investors among the contributors.
Promentis’ lead compound, SXC-2023, has the potential to treat not just trichotillomania, but also a wide range of adult impulse control diseases, said Klaus Veitinger, chief executive officer.
“Right now, the goal is to show safety and efficacy for our mechanism of action,” Veitinger said. “…because once you are there, there are a lot of options because this mechanism’s applicable to a whole host of psych disorders and even some neurological disorders.”
Promentis was established in 2007 by Dr. David Baker, a Marquette University professor and associate chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and John Mantsch, the chair of Marquette’s Department of Biomedical Sciences.
The company has previously raised a total of $5 million from investors. Its technology, which was in-licensed by Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, must go through one more phase of development before it can be brought to market, which chief executive officer Klaus Veitinger estimates will be around 2023.
“The one thing about our industry is it’s a little bit almost like building the next 747, so it’s…a big project, very complex, and you have to think it through from the beginning to the end,” Veitinger said.
Promentis has targeted trichotillomania because there is nothing approved to treat it, and there is a clear medical need, he said.
The company, which has most of its employees in Milwaukee and a couple in a Boston office, is also working to launch a parallel study on obsessive compulsive disorder, for which it would need additional funding, he said.
When Promentis was founded, there was a lot of investor interest in psych drugs, but it died down over the past few years, Veitinger said. Now, that interest is emerging again.
“Psych is always a tempting investment for investors because there’s a lot of unmet need,” Veitinger said. “But it’s also sometimes scary because a lot of things have to play out, so it’s seen as risky.”
Long-term, Promentis is expected to either go public or have a merger event, he said.
