Welcoming Seaport Therapeutics to Our Portfolio

By Insiya Essani & Hyung Chun

We’re excited to announce our investment last week in Seaport Therapeutics. Seaport is on a mission to deliver best-in-class medicines for those suffering from depression, anxiety and other neuropsychiatric disorders. These disorders affect over 500 million individuals worldwide, and developing more effective treatment options for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients is a mission that resonates with our team.

We believe that the mental health sector, particularly MDD, presents significant opportunities for innovation and impact. The unmet need for effective treatments in MDD, especially those that can address anxiety and other related conditions, makes this space particularly attractive, in our opinion. Seaport Therapeutics’ focus on developing prodrugs for MDD aligns with Foresite Capital’s interest in novel approaches that can potentially offer better therapeutic outcomes and address a broad patient population. We are of the view that their Glyph platform, which enhances drug delivery by bypassing the liver, represents a promising advancement in this field. This approach not only differentiates Seaport from existing treatments, but also opens possibilities for broader applications across therapeutic areas by taking advantage of lymphatic delivery. We like the  therapeutic development strategy directly coupled with a platform for improved drug delivery that could hold promise to improve both efficacy and safety. 

Our investment thesis emphasizes innovative solutions that address significant unmet needs. Seaport’s lead program aligns with this by targeting MDD with anxiety, a condition with limited effective treatments. The focus on enhancing drug delivery and efficacy through Seaport’s innovative approach fits well with our strategy of investing in differentiated technologies that we believe can disrupt existing treatment paradigms and offer substantial value to patients. With their lead program already in Phase 2 studies and a second program about to enter the clinic, we are excited for continued near term clinical validation. 

The Seaport team brings a wealth of experience and expertise in drug development for neuropsychiatric disorders, which is, in our opinion, crucial for the success of their program. We admire the track record of CEO Daphne Zohar and Chairman (former Karuna CEO) Steve Paul. We believe that the addition of Michael Chen as the CSO and Antony Loebel as the CMO further strengthens their leadership. This experienced team, combined with their strategic vision and execution capabilities, mirrors the qualities we value in our investment partners. Their ability to secure funding from General Atlantic, Invus, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, CPP Investments, ARCH Venture Partners, Sofinnova Investments, Third Rock Ventures and co-founder PureTech Health, which we view as well-known names in the industry, further solidifies our confidence in their potential.

We are particularly pleased to invest alongside Brett Zbar at General Atlantic, a leading global growth investor. Brett was a managing director at Foresite Capital from 2015 to 2020, and we love working with him. And a special thanks to Jonathan Robbins and Hemaka Rajapakse for their work on the deal.

Congrats to Daphne, Steve, and the team at Seaport, and welcome to our portfolio!