MapLight Therapeutics has completed its initial public offering (IPO), raising approximately $296.3 million through the sale of 16,962,500 shares of common stock at $17.00 per share. The offering included the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 2,212,500 shares, with trading beginning on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker MPLT on October 27, 2025. The IPO officially closed two days later.
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Headquartered in San Francisco with operations in Boston, MapLight Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharma company developing precision medicines for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company’s work centers on decoding how specific brain circuits go awry in mental and neurological illness.
MapLight uses advanced brain-mapping technologies to understand how communication between neurons breaks down in disease.
Its neural circuit discovery platform combines techniques such as optogenetics, single-cell transcriptomics and STARmap spatial biology to pinpoint which brain circuits contribute to specific symptoms — and to design drugs that precisely modulate those circuits. This approach aims to improve both the effectiveness and tolerability of treatments for CNS disorders.
MapLight’s first drug candidate applies that circuit-level insight to a new class of antipsychotic therapies. Its lead candidate, ML-007C-MA, is a fixed-dose combination of a brain-penetrant M1/M4 muscarinic agonist with a peripherally acting anticholinergic. The therapy is being developed for schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease psychosis (ADP), two areas with significant unmet need.
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) play a central role in regulating cognition, movement and reward signaling in the brain, making them attractive drug targets for disorders like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s.
Selective activation of the M1 and M4 subtypes has shown potential to improve cognitive and psychotic symptoms by fine-tuning neurotransmitter balance without the side effects of older cholinergic drugs.
Current antipsychotics work by blocking dopamine D2 receptors, often leading to side effects such as movement disorders, metabolic disturbances and sedation. By targeting muscarinic receptors, MapLight aims to offer a safer and potentially broader therapeutic option.
ML-007C-MA has completed four Phase I trials involving more than 270 participants and is now being evaluated in two Phase II studies. The ZEPHYR trial is assessing ML-007C-MA in schizophrenia patients, with topline results expected in the second half of 2026, while the VISTA trial is studying the same candidate in ADP, with data anticipated in 2027.
Early studies showed that ML-007C-MA achieved targeted cerebrospinal fluid exposures without requiring fasting and was generally well tolerated, supporting once- or twice-daily dosing.
The IPO proceeds will advance ML-007C-MA through both Phase II programs and support continued investment in its circuit biology platform and pipeline.
ZEPHYR is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in roughly 300 hospitalized adults with schizophrenia, measuring change in PANSS total score (a scale of symptom severity) at Week 5, while VISTA will enroll about 300 ADP patients using the NPI-C Hallucinations and Delusions score (an assessment of behavioral and perceptual changes) at Week 7.
ML-007C-MA was generally well tolerated in Phase I, with minimal titration and no fasting requirements.
The company is also extending its platform across other neurological and developmental conditions. MapLight is running the IRIS Phase II trial of ML-004 in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with topline data expected in the second half of 2026. It is also progressing two preclinical programs — ML-021 for Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms and ML-009 for hyperactivity and agitation disorders — through key milestones in 2026.
Across the muscarinic drug landscape, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Cobenfy (xanomeline/trospium) became the first FDA-approved muscarinic therapy for schizophrenia in September 2024, targeting M1 and M4 receptors. Neurocrine Biosciences and Nxera Pharma have begun a global Phase III program for NBI-1117568, a selective M4 agonist for adults with schizophrenia.
AbbVie’s emraclidine, meanwhile, failed to meet primary endpoints in Phase II trials for schizophrenia.
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