$10 Million Investment Received from Foresite Capital in Extension of Series B Financing
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Engrail Therapeutics, a precision neuroscience company focused on the development of transformational therapies to improve the lives of patients, today announced the appointment of Paul Cayer as chief financial officer, and Saira Ramasastry to the company’s board of directors. Ms. Ramasastry will assume the position of chair of the audit committee. The company also announced the receipt of a $10 million investment from Foresite Capital in an extension of the Series B financing announced in March 2024, bringing the total raised in the Series B round to $167 million.
“I am excited to welcome Paul to the Engrail team following the close of our over-subscribed Series B financing and look forward to leveraging his deep experience in capital raising, corporate strategy and financial operations leadership for the next stage of our growth,” said Vikram Sudarsan, PhD, president and CEO of Engrail Therapeutics. “Similarly, I am delighted to have Saira join our board to provide oversight of our finance function and help guide the strategic direction of Engrail as she has previously done with numerous biotech companies over her career. These appointments help to ensure continued support of our advancing product pipeline including our lead program, ENX-102, a next generation precision-targeted GABA modulator currently in Phase 2 testing for generalized anxiety disorder.”
Mr. Cayer has more than 30 years of experience in biotech finance, corporate development and commercial leadership roles. He was a member of the founding management team at Otonomy and served as its chief financial and business officer for 14 years including 8 years as a public company. During that time, the company created a pipeline of novel therapeutics targeting hearing and balance disorders, raised over $550 million through multiple private and public financings including a successful IPO, and completed numerous asset transactions and corporate collaborations. He joins Engrail from Ashvattha Therapeutics where he served as chief financial officer and led the business development activities. Mr. Cayer received his bachelor’s degree in Biomechanical Engineering from Harvard University and MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Ms. Ramasastry has over 25 years of life sciences experience successfully building companies as an advisor, board member and operational executive. She is the managing partner of Life Sciences Advisory, a firm she founded to provide strategic advice for life sciences companies. Previously, Ms. Ramasastry spent 10 years as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch & Co., where she helped establish the biotech practice to support capital market and strategic transactions. She serves on the board of directors for VIR Biotechnology, Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Day One Biopharmaceuticals, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., and is on the Industry Advisory Board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Ms. Ramasastry received her bachelor’s degree in Economics and master’s degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and MPhil in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge.
About Engrail Therapeutics
Engrail is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company with a rich pipeline of precision-targeted neuroscience programs designed to improve the lives of patients with neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases. Our lead program ENX-102, a next-generation GABAA positive allosteric modulator, is in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Additional clinical and preclinical programs are intended to address significant unmet medical needs for the treatment of depression and anhedonia, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other anxiety-, mood-, and stress-related disorders. We are also developing a potentially life-saving and quality-of-life improving approach to the treatment of Menkes disease, an ultra-rare and fatal neurodevelopmental disease of deficient copper transport. At Engrail, we apply precision chemistry and pharmacology to develop transformative medicines for patients who have been underserved by existing treatments.
For more information, visit engrail.com.
Media Contact:
Anil Vootkur, PharmD
Engrail Therapeutics
anil@engrail.com
