Neu­ro up­start launch­es out of RA Cap­i­tal’s low-pro­file in­cu­ba­tor with Big Phar­ma vets, clin­i­cal drugs and $80M

As a pain re­searcher of 20-plus years, Va­lerie Moris­set doesn’t get ex­cit­ed about new drug ideas eas­i­ly.

So when An­drew Levin from RA Cap­i­tal called to talk about a pro­drug of the en­do­cannabi­noid palmi­toylethanolamide, she was skep­ti­cal. Moris­set had just swapped out a ca­reer in biotech — most re­cent­ly head­ing up bi­ol­o­gy and trans­la­tion­al med­i­cine for Con­ver­gence Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals through its ac­qui­si­tion by Bio­gen — for a VC perch at Bridge Val­ley Ven­tures , and to­geth­er with Si­mon Tate, the man­ag­ing di­rec­tor of In­ter­me­di­ate Cap­i­tal Group, they dived in for three months of due dili­gence.

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