MapLight Therapeutics

General Information
Business:

(Incorporated in Delaware)

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation. We believe our deep understanding of these causal links between the modulation of defined neural circuits and the resulting changes in disease-specific behaviors will enable us to develop therapeutics that can deliver efficacy, safety, tolerability and ease-of-use advantages to patients and prescribers.

Our lead product candidate, ML-007C-MA, is a fixed-dose combination of an M1/M4 muscarinic agonist, ML-007, co-formulated with a peripherally acting anticholinergic, or PAC, which we are initially developing for the treatment of schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, or ADP. ML-007C-MA is designed to activate both M1 and M4 muscarinic receptors in the CNS to drive efficacy, while synchronizing the pharmacokinetics of the agonist and antagonist components to mitigate peripheral cholinergic side effects. ML-007 alone, co-administered, or co-formulated with PAC has been evaluated in four Phase 1 trials, with a total of 270 healthy participants enrolled and more than 1,500 doses of ML-007 administered. Based on our clinical and preclinical data, we believe that ML-007C-MA has demonstrated the potential to be a well-tolerated treatment option with convenient dosing, while achieving or exceeding CSF exposures expected to result in improvement across key symptom domains. We are currently conducting ZEPHYR, a Phase 2 trial evaluating ML-007C-MA for the treatment of schizophrenia, and expect topline results in the second half of 2026. We are also conducting VISTA, a Phase 2 trial evaluating ML-007C-MA for the treatment of ADP, and expect topline results in the second half of 2027.

There remains a significant unmet need in both schizophrenia and ADP for medicines that can effectively treat the breadth of symptoms while reducing the significant safety and tolerability risks for patients. Schizophrenia is one of the most common psychotic disorders and affects over 20 million people globally, including more than 3 million people in the United States. Schizophrenia remains one of the leading causes of disability and is associated with an increased risk for premature mortality. Atypical antipsychotics represent the current standard of care and primarily exert their therapeutic effects by binding to and inhibiting the activity of dopamine D2 receptors in the brain. These dopaminergic antipsychotics are associated with risk of highly morbid side effects of extra pyramidal symptoms, or EPS, metabolic abnormalities, hyperprolactinemia, QTc prolongation and sedation. Furthermore, these medications are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, only for the treatment of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia and do not address the negative symptoms nor cognitive impairment. Meta-analyses of real-world usage of dopaminergic antipsychotics have shown poor treatment adherence and high discontinuation rates due to lack of efficacy and/or undesirable side effects.

Note: Net loss is for the 12 months that ended June 30, 2025. The company has not generated any product revenue to date, according to the prospectus.

(Note: MapLight Therapeutics filed its S-1 on Sept. 19, 2025, for its IPO, without disclosing the terms. Estimated initial proceeds are $100 million, a placeholder figure.)

Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Employees: 109
Founded: 2018
Contact Information
Address 800 Chesapeake Drive Redwood City, California 94063 (617) 984-6300
Phone Number (617) 984-6300
Web Address http://www.maplightrx.com/
View Prospectus: MapLight Therapeutics
Financial Information
Market Cap
Revenues $0 mil (last 12 months)
Net Income $-92.5 mil (last 12 months)
IPO Profile
Symbol MPLT
Exchange NASDAQ
Shares (millions): 0.0
Price range $0.00 - $0.00
Est. $ Volume $100.0 mil
Manager / Joint Managers Morgan Stanley/Jefferies/Leerink/Stifel
CO-Managers
Expected To Trade:
Status: TBA
Quiet Period Expiration Date:
Lock-Up Period Expiration Date:
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