A cross-border team from law firm Goodwin represented the neuroscience company Cerevance in its financing by Lightstone Ventures and Takeda Pharmaceutical.
Cerevance will focus on discovering and developing novel therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
The USD36 million funding round includes a USD21.5 million Series A financing investment from Takeda and Lightstone Ventures, with each joining Cerevance’s board of directors.
Cerevance will have sites in both Massachusetts and the UK. Takeda has provided a 25-person neuroscience research team from its Cambridge, UK site, including industry veterans, fully equipped laboratory space, and licenses to a portfolio of preclinical and clinical stage drug programs. Cerevance will use a new technology in-licensed from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute laboratory of Nathaniel Heintz at the Rockefeller University.
The Goodwin Boston team was led by partners Kingsley Taft, Laurie Burlingame and Dan Karelitz and associates Noelle Dubiansky and Ian Longacre. The Goodwin London team was led by partner Richard Lever and associates Michael Miranda and Alastair Slater.
