Gabather was founded in 2014, based on 10 years research at Lund University, to develop new drug candidates for the treatment of CNS diseases. Gabather was founded by Forskarpatent I Syd AB and inventors Olov Sterner and Mogens Nielsen, with the purpose of commercializing Sterner’s and Nielsen’s inventions. Sterner has worked with medicinal chemistry for 40 years, and Nielsen has worked in neuroscience for 45 years. Both enjoy world-wide renown and are highly regarded within their areas. The owners of Gabather include the inventors, as well as Forskarpatent I Syd AB along with other shareholders.

Gabather has four main focus areas: anti-psychotics, anti-depressants and anxiolytics, analgesics, as well as cognition-enhancing treatments, including for Alzheimer’s disease. Many patents for blockbuster drugs in these areas are expiring, and generic copies are causing a decline in profits for major pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, there is currently a high demand for new developments within the above target areas. The company has decided to primarily focus on the area of anti-psychotics, with continued development of the lead substance GT-002. The total market for anti-psychotics was estimated at 11.7 billion US dollars in 2015. All the focus areas combined represent a total market of about 58 billion dollars.

Pharmaceutical development takes a very long time from invention to finished product available on the market. To attract attention from big pharmaceutical companies it is often the case that the drug candidate must have reached “Proof of Concept” in man Phase 2. Therefore, it is highly important that the company is able to attract enough funding to develop the drug candidate as far as possible. On the other hand, a licensing deal can be struck in an earlier stage for the most viable projects, provided they have data from human cells in-vitro as well as results from animal models. This means Gabather would be able to attract potential licensing deals in a relatively early stage. Joint ventures, development partnerships, and other forms of cooperation are alternative routes that do not exclude simultaneous licensing deals. This is an attractive strategy with clear development milestones, as well as having the benefit of shared risks and costs.