Takeda, Lightstone back CNS newco Cerevance

Neurology newco Cerevance LLC (Cambridge, Mass.) launched with $36 million, including a $21.5 million series A from co-leaders Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502) and Lightstone Ventures. Cerevance declined to name the source of the balance, but said a portion of the money raised was non-dilutive.

Cerevance will license target identification technology developed in Nathaniel Heintz’s lab at The Rockefeller University (New York, N.Y.) for use in its efforts to discover and develop therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders...