Tempero Bio, a biotechnology company based in Oakland, California, has secured $70 million to advance a drug it’s developing into mid-stage testing for cocaine and alcohol use disorders.
The Series B round, announced by Tempero Monday, will support two Phase 2 trials of the drug, called TMP-301. The biotech will also use the funds to prepare for late-stage studies as well as to explore additional indications and formulations.
The round was led by investor 8VC, and also involved Khosla Ventures and Aditum Bio, among others.
A relatively new investor in biotech, Aditum previously backed Versanis Bio, an obesity drug developer acquired by Eli Lilly in 2023. The investment firm is run by former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez and Mark Fishman, formerly head of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
Aditum launched Tempero in 2020 via a partnership with the pharmaceutical company Sosei Heptares, now called Nxera Pharma. Nxera licensed TMP-301 to Tempero in exchange for an upfront payment and equity stake, while Aditum put up Tempero’s initial funding.
According to Tempero, TMP-301 is designed to “address neurobiological basis of addiction” by reducing excessive signaling via a neurotransmitter called glutamate. More specifically, TMP-301 modulates the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5, which is involved in central nervous system function.
Tempero said the drug showed potential in preclinical models of opiate, alcohol and cocaine use disorders. It has been tested in about 80 healthy individuals as part of a Phase 1 study.
“Substance use disorders affect 48 million Americans and contribute to more than 100,000 deaths per year. We urgently need more effective treatments to help patients and families with these diseases,” Tempero CEO Ricardo Dolmetsch said in a statement.
While psychiatry drugs have regained investor and drugmaker attention in recent years, the pipeline of novel treatments for substance use disorders remains thin. One new area of promise is the GLP-1 drugs currently used for diabetes and weight loss. Their makers are now studying their effects in curbing alcohol use.
