Congratulations to Alto Neuroscience on its NYSE Listing, Advancing Precision Medicines in Mental Health | Gaorong Ventures News
Providing personalized and efficient treatment for patients with mental illness.
On February 2, 2024, Alto Neuroscience, a precision drug development company in mental health, successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "ANRO." The company priced its IPO at $16 per share, raising over $129 million. Gaorong Ventures participated in Alto's Series C financing round in 2023.
Alto is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing personalized and effective treatments for patients with mental health disorders through big data analytics in psychiatry, redefining therapeutic approaches to mental illness.
A Differentiated Drug Development Path
Improving Success Rates in Psychiatric Drug Development
Founded in 2019 by Stanford University psychiatry professor Dr. Amit Etkin, Alto aims to develop more effective precision medicines for patients with mental health disorders through a differentiated drug development approach rooted in deep understanding of brain function, avoiding potentially lengthy and ineffective treatment processes.
Traditional psychiatric drug development often faces high failure rates in clinical stages due to limited understanding of how drugs affect the human brain. Alto has built a precision drug development platform for mental health disorders that collects data through cognitive testing, electroencephalography (EEG), and wearable devices, then applies rigorous data analysis to extract biomarker signatures from the brain. These signatures are then used to identify and select patients who show better clinical responses to candidate therapeutics. Alto's approach has the potential to transform how psychiatric drugs are developed and increase the probability of clinical success.
Addressing Massive Mental Health Needs
Accelerating Clinical Pipeline Progress
Mental health conditions are receiving increasing global attention. Current estimates suggest that over 50% of the U.S. population will be diagnosed with a mental health disorder in their lifetime, with U.S. spending on mental health services reaching approximately $280 billion in 2020. The limitations of existing therapies are a major driver of rising costs, as these treatments often prove ineffective for a substantial portion of patients. While personalized approaches have made significant strides in areas such as oncology, psychiatric drug development and treatment remain largely non-individualized.
Alto has advanced five clinical-stage pipeline programs, initially targeting major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia populations characterized by specific brain biomarkers. All of these programs have been validated through at least Phase I clinical trials, with good safety and tolerability observed. Alto's two most advanced drug candidates — ALTO-100 and ALTO-300 — have each successfully completed Phase IIa trials in over 200 patients and are advancing rapidly into Phase IIb. ALTO-100 is being developed for MDD patients characterized by a neurocognitive biomarker, while ALTO-300 targets MDD patients characterized by an EEG biomarker. Additionally, Alto plans to initiate Phase II efficacy validation clinical trials for ALTO-101 and ALTO-203 in the first half of 2024, for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia patients and anhedonia in MDD patients, respectively.
Dr. Jiangtao Yu, Managing Director at Gaorong Ventures, commented: "Mental health disorders are receiving increasing attention globally, yet the drug development model in this field urgently needs transformation. Professor Amit Etkin spent over a decade conducting dedicated research at Stanford University. Drawing on insights from oncology and other fields, Professor Etkin tested how different patients respond to drugs to identify biomarkers, then used these biomarkers to classify patients and establish correlations with drug efficacy. Using such biomarkers to screen and enroll patients can increase the probability of clinical success and even revive drugs that previously failed in clinical trials, thereby enabling precision treatment for mental health disorders. We look forward to Alto advancing innovative medicines to market and benefiting patients with mental health disorders as soon as possible."
In the healthcare sector, Gaorong seeks to identify and support companies with truly global innovation capabilities, and continues to invest in outstanding enterprises across new drug R&D, medical devices, digital health, and healthcare services.
