ABOUT - Overview

Galenea is dedicated to enhancing lives through the discovery of innovative therapies for central nervous system diseases.

Galenea was founded on the ground-breaking work of Professors Susumu Tonegawa at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Maria Karayiorgou at Columbia University Medical Center (formerly at The Rockefeller University). Together, their laboratories obtained both behavioral and genetic evidence for the role of calcineurin in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. This advance suggests that the calcineurin pathway is a potential untapped source of therapeutic targets for the development of mechanism-based treatments for the disease. With the goal of generating new therapeutics with a particular focus on the associated memory and cognition impairments characteristic of schizophrenia and related disorders, Galenea established a research and development partnership with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Otsuka is a global pharmaceutical company with proven success in the discovery and development of therapies for CNS diseases, including Abilify®, the world’s fastest growing antipsychotic agent.

Expanding our CNS focused pipeline, Galenea in-licensed a portfolio of 5-HT2C agonists for the treatment of obesity and other related disorders. The licensed indole-based agonists have demonstrated potent 5-HT2C receptor agonist activity, highly desirable selectivity against other closely-related serotonin receptor family members and significant reduction of food intake in animal models of obesity. Based on these characteristics, Galenea aims to produce a best-in-class molecule for the safe and effective treatment of obesity.

Galenea is located in a custom-designed facility at Technology Square in Cambridge, MA. Our scientists are engaged in cutting-edge translational research that focuses on building high-powered predictive tools to unravel the mechanisms of CNS diseases. Our goal is to be recognized as a leader in drug discovery by translating the insights gained from our tools into clinical candidates that yield truly innovative therapeutics. Further advancement of our drug candidates will be performed together with partners who have global pharmaceutical development and commercialization expertise.