Arsenal Bridge Ventures invests in U-M startup Courage Therapeutics to advance innovative weight regulation drugs
Courage Therapeutics, a University of Michigan spinout company developing medications for eating disorders and obesity, today announced a significant investment from Arsenal Bridge Ventures. This seed investment of up to $7.8M will enable Courage Therapeutics to complete essential testing and development to advance its drug candidates to clinical trials.
Courage Therapeutics’ two drug-development programs aim to address obesity and restrictive eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and cachexia, by targeting neural circuits in the brain known as the central melanocortin system. Roger Cone, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, has been at the forefront of melanocortin research for over three decades. His research group discovered the substantial role that two of these proteins—the melanocortin 3 receptor and melanocortin 4 receptor (MC3R and MC4R)—play in regulating energy balance and food intake.
Working with U-M’s Innovation Partnerships, Cone and founding CEO Dan Housman established Courage Therapeutics in 2019 to translate Cone’s research into viable treatments. With early investments from the Michigan Biomedical Venture Fund and federal funding from the NIH, the Courage team has developed promising drug candidates for genetic obesity syndromes.
Unlike traditional weight-loss drugs that mimic gut hormones, Courage Therapeutics’ approach involves direct action on melanocortin circuits within the hypothalamus, a system known to influence feeding behaviors and weight management. This strategy not only targets dietary obesity and genetic obesity syndromes for which GLP-1 drugs are not label-approved but also may enhance the effects of existing GLP-1 drugs for treating dietary obesity.
“With this approach, we have been able to rapidly develop compounds that are even more potent and selective than current market offerings, in terms of their ability to inhibit food intake in mammals,” said Cone, who also serves as the Mary Sue Coleman Director of the U-M Life Sciences Institute. “Our partnership with Arsenal Bridge Ventures is crucial as we now prepare to move these compounds into patient clinical trials later this year.
With Cone’s decades of research at its foundation, Courage Therapeutics has built a rigorous portfolio and has quickly proven its capability to address critical medical needs beyond obesity, including other prevalent weight regulation disorders.
Arsenal Bridge Ventures Managing Director Isaac Barchas emphasized the firm’s strategic focus on harnessing cutting-edge science from Midwest research institutions.
“With Cone’s decades of research at its foundation, Courage Therapeutics has built a rigorous portfolio and has quickly proven its capability to address critical medical needs beyond obesity, including other prevalent weight regulation disorders,” Barchas noted.
Housman expressed optimism about the partnership with Arsenal Bridge Ventures, highlighting its alignment with Courage Therapeutics’ founding mission to develop the first FDA-approved treatment for anorexia nervosa and address other underrepresented eating disorders.
“Arsenal Bridge Ventures not only brings essential funding but also shares our vision for building a business to address broad-spectrum disease management,” Housman said. “Together, we can have a profound impact on treating obesity as well as restrictive eating disorders that have historically received limited attention, despite their enormous impact on patients and families such as mine.”
About the Companies
Arsenal Bridge Ventures advances high-impact, differentiated biotechnology innovations grounded in AI and new technologies originating from mid-continent universities where commercial and venture networks are less saturated and well-positioned for future growth and evolution. The firm sources opportunities through relationships with the innovators themselves, while building and scaling companies through leadership recruitment, capital deployment and syndication strategies that optimize asset value.
Courage Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treating obesity and eating disorders. The company is led by an experienced team of scientists and pharmaceutical industry experts focusing on developing scientific discoveries regarding the brain’s response to energy signals from the body. The company has a licensing agreement with the University of Michigan to develop treatments based on a portfolio of intellectual property jointly invented by Courage. Led by Dr. Tomi Sawyer the Courage medicinal chemistry team has pending patents on multiple compounds with highly selective and potent MC4R and MC3R activity.