BURLINGTON, Mass. — November 19, 2025 — Leads & Copy — Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NERV) has appointed Dr. Inderjit Kaul, Chief Medical Officer of Draig Therapeutics, to its board of directors. Dr. Kaul will also consult on the future clinical development of roluperidone.
Last month, Minerva announced raising up to $200 million in a private placement. The funds will support a confirmatory Phase 3 trial for roluperidone to treat negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients. It will also fund resubmission of its New Drug Application (NDA) and preparations for the U.S. commercial launch, pending approval.
As part of the financing arrangement, Minerva will appoint additional board members with expertise in schizophrenia clinical trials to strengthen clinical operations and support the Phase 3 trial of roluperidone.
Dr. Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and CEO of Minerva Neurosciences, expressed delight in welcoming Dr. Kaul, citing his extensive experience as a global drug development leader with expertise in regulatory, clinical, and commercialization operations across various therapeutic areas, including neurology, oncology, and immunology.
Luthringer highlighted Dr. Kaul’s recent experience overseeing late-stage clinical development and commercialization of CobenfyTM for schizophrenia, stating it will be invaluable as Minerva prepares and executes the confirmatory study in negative symptoms of schizophrenia with roluperidone.
From March 2024 to May 2025, Dr. Kaul served as Senior Vice President, Late-Stage Clinical Development, Neuropsychiatry at Bristol Myers Squibb. There, he managed product development and clinical strategy for CobenfyTM across multiple indications, including schizophrenia, bipolar mania, and autism spectrum disorder. From March 2020 to March 2024, he led the development of a muscarinic agonist for acute schizophrenia at Karuna Therapeutics, which resulted in FDA approval of CobenfyTM.
Dr. Kaul currently leads the development of an AMPA receptor positive allosteric modulator for Major Depressive Disorder at Draig Therapeutics. He holds an M.D. and an MPH from Harvard University.
Dr. Kaul expressed his enthusiasm for joining Minerva Neurosciences at this pivotal time, acknowledging the significant unmet need for treatments addressing negative symptoms in schizophrenia. He looks forward to collaborating with the Minerva team to advance roluperidone through Phase 3 trials and bring the treatment to patients, pending approval.
Schizophrenia is described in terms of positive, negative and cognitive symptoms.
Negative symptoms include blunted affect, alogia, avolition, anhedonia, and asociality.
People with impairing negative symptoms often require care from healthcare systems and families and experience a reduced quality of life, including greater conceptual disorganization and psychosis, increased likelihood of hospitalization, poorer social functioning, pronounced social cognitive impairment, and increased likelihood of unemployment or low-quality employment.
Approximately 50% to 60% of people living with schizophrenia experience at least one primary/disease related negative symptom. The primary negative symptoms do not respond to antipsychotics.
While several antipsychotics are FDA-approved for schizophrenia, none are specifically approved to treat negative symptoms, which the FDA has acknowledged is currently an unmet medical need.
Frederick Ahlholm, Chief Financial Officer, Minerva Neurosciences, Inc., info@minervaneurosciences.com
Helen Shik, Principal, Shik Communications LLC, helen@shikcommunications.com
Source: Minerva Neurosciences, Inc.
