Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals Changes Name to Luc Therapeutics

Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals has changed its name to Luc Therapeutics Inc. to better reflect its overall synaptic plasticity-oriented drug development strategy. The new Luc Therapeutics will be headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

“Changing our name to Luc Therapeutics reflects the tremendous progress we have made to focus our discovery capabilities on areas where NMDA receptor modulation offers the most tractable path to potential therapeutics for patients,” said Vanessa King, president and chief executive officer, Luc Therapeutics. “Changing our name to Luc Therapeutics reflects the tremendous progress we have made to focus our discovery capabilities on areas where NMDA receptor modulation offers the most tractable path to potential therapeutics for patients. Luc references the English word lucidity and the Italian word luce; our intention is to develop therapeutics that will bring clarity and light, metaphorically, to the minds of patients.”

Luc Therapeutics will focus on the discovery of therapeutics to address serious psychiatric diseases through modulating dynamic synaptic plasticity—the ability of the billions of synaptic connections in the human brain to strengthen or weaken over time. As such, it is the underlying biological mechanism of information processing, learning and memory. By focusing on NMDA receptors to modulate synaptic plasticity, the company believes that its medicines will have the potential to reestablish essential brain processes, improving cognition and helping patients regain a broader range of function.

In addition, Mnemosyne has appointed 20-year neuroscience R&D veteran Timothy Piser to chief scientific officer (CSO).

“Tim Piser is an ideal addition to the Luc team, bringing industry experience in leading drug discovery and development programs for therapeutics relevant to our success—i.e., targeting NMDA receptors and related targets in neurobiology,” said Dr. King. “And, in parallel, our move to Cambridge provides us with an ideal environment for progressing our programs. We are excited to immerse ourselves fully in this world-class biotechnology cluster.”

Prior to joining Luc, Dr. Piser spent almost two decades at AstraZeneca and, most recently, Forum Pharmaceuticals, where he led discovery project and development product teams from lead optimization through Phase 2 clinical trials.