Funding: HMNC and the Long Road to Precision Psychiatry

When HMNC first attracted wider attention almost ten years ago, its vision sounded genuinely disruptive. Rather than treating psychiatric disorders through the traditional trial-and-error approach, the company aimed to use biomarkers and genetic testing to identify which patients would respond to which therapies. The concept gained early visibility through prominent German psychiatrist and neuroscientist Florian Holsboer and backing from entrepreneur and investor Carsten Maschmeyer.

Now HMNC has reached another significant milestone. The company has completed a first closing of its $50 million Series B round, led by German healthcare company MEDICE, which has also secured European commercialisation rights for HMNC’s ketamine candidate KET01 (Ketabon). The proceeds will support Phase III preparation for KET01 and further development of the company’s second lead programme, Nelivabon.

Early Hype, Long Development

The latest financing announcement somewhat obscures how long and challenging the development journey has been.

Back in 2021, HMNC and its Swiss partner Develco Pharma announced plans to develop an oral prolonged-release ketamine formulation for treatment-resistant depression. At the time, the company expected initial clinical data in 2022 and follow-up results in early 2023.

The programme entered a second Phase II study in 2022 involving 117 patients. The ambition was considerable: to develop an oral ketamine tablet that retained ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effect while significantly reducing the dissociative side effects associated with existing ketamine-based therapies. The product was also designed with outpatient and potentially at-home treatment in mind.

When Phase II results were reported in 2023, they delivered encouraging but mixed findings. KET01 showed significant improvements in depressive symptoms within days and generated substantially fewer dissociative effects than established ketamine or esketamine treatments. However, the study failed to achieve statistical significance on its primary endpoint after 21 days compared with placebo.

Back to the Waiting Room

As a result, what had initially appeared to be a relatively straightforward development programme became a much longer process. As recently as 2025, HMNC’s public communications suggested a Phase III trial was on the horizon. By mid-2026, however, the company is still describing its activities as “Phase III readiness”.

Alongside KET01, HMNC continues to advance Nelivabon, a programme that arguably reflects the company’s original precision psychiatry vision even more closely. The vasopressin V1b receptor antagonist is being developed for genetically defined subgroups of patients with depression. Following positive Phase IIb data, HMNC is preparing the programme for late-stage development.

Despite the delays, the company has succeeded in broadening its investor base. German football star Toni Kroos joined a financing round in 2022, while long-time supporter Maschmeyer has remained involved through his investment vehicle.

Psychiatry Returns to the Spotlight

HMNC may also benefit from a changing environment for psychiatric drug development. For much of the past decade, many large pharmaceutical companies scaled back or abandoned neuroscience programmes after repeated clinical failures. Yet the need for new therapies has not disappeared. On the contrary, demand for mental health treatments continues to rise, while healthcare systems face growing costs associated with psychiatric disorders.

At the same time, regulators, investors and industry players have become increasingly interested in novel approaches. Ketamine derivatives, psychedelic compounds and biomarker-guided therapies are receiving far more attention today than they did only a few years ago.

Whether this renewed interest will translate into smoother regulatory pathways remains to be seen. However, HMNC’s latest financing round and its commercial partnership with MEDICE suggest that confidence in innovative psychiatric therapies is returning.

For MEDICE, the connection reportedly emerged through Munich’s biotech investment ecosystem, including networking around innovation events hosted by the Innovation and Start-up Centre for Biotechnology (IZB) and HTGF. Sometimes it does not take a television appearance to secure a deal; a well-timed biotech pitch can have a similar effect. For HMNC, the financing represents an important waypoint rather than a final destination. After nearly a decade of scientific ambition, the company must now demonstrate that its precision psychiatry concepts can ultimately become approved medicines.