STALICLA

STALICLA is focused on developing drugs for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) using an AI-powered precision medicine drug discovery platform called Databased Endophenotyping Patient Identification (DEPI). The platform combines real-world patient data with advanced computational analysis to detect subgroups of high-responder patients with rare and common neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders and matches these subgroups with NDD targeting drugs. 

As of July 2023, the company’s pipeline had three drug candidates; 1) STP1, targeting the PDE4/3 inhibitor and a NKCC1 antagonist to treat a subgroup of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identified by the DEPI platform, which was scheduled to enter Phase II clinical trials in 2023, 2) STP2 (acquired from Evgen Pharma) to treat another subgroup of ASD identified by DEPI, which was scheduled to enter Phase II clinical trials in 2023, and 3) STP7, mavoglurant, a treatment for substance-use disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders (licensed from Novartis), which was scheduled to enter Phase III clinical trials. The company claims its lead candidate, STP1, is the first drug targeting a biologically defined subpopulation of ASD to understand the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of ASD. 

Key Customers and Partnerships

The company has several key partnerships. In October 2022, the company obtained global licensing of SFX-01 from Evgen Pharma plc in neurodevelopmental disorders and schizophrenia. Furthermore, in January 2023, the company acquired global rights for Novartis’ drug candidate, mavoglurant, under an exclusive in-license agreement for a deal amounting to USD 270 million. 

In March 2023, the company partnered with neuroimaging company Firefly Neuroscience to conduct further validation of electroencephalogram (EEG)-based biomarkers in specific patient subgroups with ASD. During the same month, the company partnered with US National Institute on Drug Abuse to cover Phase III development of mavoglurant in cocaine use disorder.

Funding and Financials

In January 2024, STALICLA raised USD 17.4 million in a Series B financing round. The funding round was led by SPRIM Global Investments Pte, Ltd, with participation from other key investors. Additionally, the funding included a USD 3.8 million credit facility.