Impel NeuroPharma Secures $67.5 Million Series D Financing to Advance CNS Pipeline

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on December 6, 2018 (local time), Impel NeuroPharma (“Impel”), a biotechnology company based in Seattle, USA, announced the closing of its Series D financing round, in which it raised a total of $67.5 million. The round was co-led by KKR and Northwest Venture Partners (also known as NVP), with participation from existing investors Vivo Capital, 5AM Ventures, and venBio Partners. Following this financing round, Dr. Robert Mittendorff, Partner at NVP, and Ali Satvat, representing KKR, will join Impel’s Board of Directors.

This financing will enable Impel to accelerate the clinical development of its existing portfolio of products for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Leveraging its advanced POD (Precision Olfactory Delivery) technology, Impel is conducting three clinical research programs: INP104, currently in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of acute migraine; INP103, in Phase 2 clinical trials for reversing OFF episodes in Parkinson’s disease; and INP105, in Phase 1 clinical trials for the treatment of acute agitation in patients with bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia.

Image source: Impel official website

The company expects to release the relevant data from the Phase III clinical trial of INP104 by the end of 2019.

Impel was co-founded in 2008 by Dr. John Hoekman, the company’s current Chief Scientific Officer, and Michael Hite, its Chief Executive Officer. Headquartered in Seattle, United States, Impel is a biotechnology and medical device company focused on developing therapies for central nervous system disorders.

Impel’s core POD technology is a nasal drug delivery platform. This technology is designed to achieve brain-targeted intranasal drug administration in a consistent and predictable manner. Its purpose is to enable drugs, which are typically administered orally, to bypass the blood-brain barrier during delivery and reach the central nervous system (CNS), their intended target. This technology not only has the potential to reduce many side effects associated with CNS drugs (such as constipation) but may also accelerate drug delivery.

Impel believes that the nasal cavity is an underutilized entry point for systemic circulatory therapy. However, the primary challenge in achieving effective nasal drug delivery is depositing the medication in the upper mucosal region of the nasal cavity, where the olfactory nerve pathways leading to the brain are more densely distributed. Due to the structural complexity of this area, standard nasal delivery devices such as droppers and sprayers typically deposit less than 5% of the drug in the upper nasal cavity during administration, thereby failing to deliver sufficient medication to patients consistently or effectively. One of the key features of POD technology is its ability to significantly increase the proportion of drug deposition in this region, thereby enabling more efficient delivery of medications to the patient’s brain.

Image source: Impel official website

When Hoekman founded Impel, he was just 28 years old and still pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Washington. He specialized in intranasal drug delivery, with a research focus on using innovative device designs and drug delivery systems to treat central nervous system disorders in humans. At that time, his collaborators included Dr. William Frey, one of the pioneers in the field of brain-targeted intranasal drug delivery, and Dr. Rodney Ho from the University of Washington. Hoekman’s background in physics and pharmaceutics facilitated the development of Impel’s core intranasal delivery technology—POD (Precision Olfactory Delivery)—of which he is a co-inventor.

His partner, Michael Hite, is primarily responsible for all of Impel’s commercial operations.

Previously, Impel had raised a total of $40.6 million across seven funding rounds from its investors. The most critical round for the company’s development was the previous one—a $36 million Series C financing completed on December 2, 2016. This represented a significant milestone in the company’s history and provided ample financial support for its product portfolio to enter clinical trials. The lead investors in that round were venBio Partners, Vivo Capital, and 5AM Ventures.

Impel, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Seattle, USA, is a biotechnology and medical device company focused on diseases of the human central nervous system.

The company is leveraging its proprietary POD technology to conduct three clinical research programs: INP104, for the treatment of acute migraine, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials; INP103, for reversing OFF episodes in Parkinson’s disease, which is in Phase 2 clinical trials; and INP105, for the treatment of acute agitation in patients with bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials.

With this round of financing, the company has raised a total of over $100 million across eight funding rounds. The latest valuation following this round has not been disclosed.

KKR, fully known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in New York, USA. It is a globally leading investment firm focused on the management of investments across multiple asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and hedge funds. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010, with the stock ticker symbol: KKR.

Northwest Venture Partners (also known as NVP), founded in 1961 and headquartered in California, USA, is a globally leading investment firm. NVP manages over $7.5 billion in capital and invests broadly across multiple stages and sectors. Since its inception, the firm has invested in more than 600 companies.