{"id":514730,"date":"2024-02-14T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/biotech-launches-with-135-million-for-vertex-competing-pain-medicine\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T07:35:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T12:35:19","slug":"biotech-launches-with-135-million-for-vertex-competing-pain-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/biotech-launches-with-135-million-for-vertex-competing-pain-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Biotech launches with $135 million for Vertex-competing pain medicine","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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A<\/span><\/span>fter three years being incubated by California VC Westlake Village BioPartners, a new biotech launched Wednesday with $135 million and plans to compete with Vertex Pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n

The startup is called Latigo Biotherapeutics, and it\u2019s launching having already started a Phase 1 trial for a non-opioid pain medicine, LTG-001. The oral therapy is designed to silence pain-signaling neurons by blocking a sodium channel called NaV 1.8.<\/p>\n

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Westlake had set out years ago to scout out new options for pain medicines, and found a research desert, according to founding managing director Sean Harper. But NaV 1.8 has emerged as a promising option<\/a> because of its potential to be non-addictive and to lessen pain without affecting a person\u2019s central nervous system, digestion, or heart rate, as opioids can. There were still few high-quality molecules in development that could be licensed from an academic lab or another drug company, so Westlake decided to develop its own.<\/p>\n

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