British biotech offshoots receive €40 million in funding for the development and treatment of narcolepsy
Medicxi Ventures Invests €40M in Orexia and Inexia for Narcolepsy Drug Development
Medicxi Ventures, a venture capital firm with a focus on life sciences, has announced an investment of €40M in Orexia and Inexia, two new virtual companies spun out of Sosei Heptares. These companies will develop drugs to activate orexin, aiming to treat conditions like narcolepsy.
Orexia and Inexia will be based in London and operate virtually, outsourcing much of the work to Heptares Therapeutics, a UK-based company known for its platform to develop drugs against difficult-to-target molecules known as G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).
The drug candidates developed by Orexia and Inexia will target two molecules called OX1 and OX2, which are receptors of orexin, a protein that regulates arousal, wakefulness, and sleep. These companies will develop drugs that can activate both OX1 and OX2 targets at once, unlike current drugs that target orexin, such as Merck's suvorexant, which treat disorders like insomnia by blocking orexin.
Orexia Pharmaceuticals' candidate, ORX142, is an OX2R agonist designed to stimulate orexin receptor 2 directly, aiming to treat narcolepsy and other neurological conditions by mimicking the action of natural orexin peptides. Inexia, in collaboration with the US pharmaceutical Optinose, will work on intranasal delivery of the drugs, while Jazz Pharma's Xyrem, approved for narcolepsy with cataplexy, generates over $1B in sales despite a black box warning and abuse potential.
Inexia's candidate, OX-750 or oveporexton, also targets OX2R and has shown significant improvement in excessive daytime sleepiness in Phase III clinical trials, demonstrating efficacy by activating orexin pathways involved in wakefulness.
By selectively activating OX2R, these drugs improve upon current narcolepsy treatments, which often focus on symptom management (e.g., stimulants or sodium oxybate). Orexin receptor agonists address a root cause—orexin deficiency—providing a more targeted mechanism to restore normal sleep-wake regulation. Successful drugs could lead to improved treatments for narcolepsy, where new solutions are needed.
Medicxi Ventures has previously invested in the area, as seen with its portfolio company Minerva Neuroscience developing a drug to block orexin for insomnia treatment. The investment in Orexia and Inexia marks another step in Medicxi's commitment to advancing neuroscience research and developing innovative treatments for neurological diseases.
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- The biotech companies Orexia and Inexia, funded by Medicxi Ventures, focus on health-and-wellness and mental health by developing drugs that can stimulate orexin receptors (OX1 and OX2) to improve sleep-wake regulation, particularly in treating conditions like narcolepsy.
- In the field of science and health-and-wellness, Orexia Pharmaceuticals and Inexia, with support from medicxi Ventures, are working on innovative treatments for mental health disorders such as narcolepsy, by creating drugs that activate both orexin receptors OX1 and OX2, offering a more targeted mechanism to restore normal sleep-wake regulation compared to current treatments.
