HMNC Brain Health names Doebler CEO ahead of Phase 3 push

The Munich neuroscience company promotes its Chief Business Officer to lead Ketabon and Nelivabon into late-stage development following a $50m Series B close.

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A large, white CT scanner with a patient table stands centered in a brightly lit, cool-toned medical examination room, featuring control monitors inside the scanner's bore and various wall-mounted equipment.

HMNC Brain Health has appointed Dr. Maximilian Doebler as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect, promoting the company insider who has served as Managing Director and Chief Business Officer since 2022. The move comes as the Munich-based clinical-stage neuroscience company prepares to advance two late-stage depression assets toward Phase 3 trials.

Doebler joined HMNC in 2019 and has been closely involved in shaping its current portfolio and business trajectory. Earlier in 2026, he oversaw three significant milestones: the first closing of a $50 million Series B financing round, a strategic licensing agreement granting MEDICE exclusive European commercialisation rights for lead asset Ketabon (KET01), and the appointment of Dr. Bjørn Grønning as Chief Medical Officer.

The pipeline

HMNC's two lead programmes target difficult-to-treat depression, a segment where roughly one in three of the estimated 300 million patients living with depression worldwide are inadequately served by existing therapies. Ketabon is an oral prolonged-release formulation of ketamine designed for at-home use in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Phase 2 data from the KET01-02 trial, including a head-to-head comparison demonstrating minimal dissociation, were published in JAMA Network Open in June 2026. Nelivabon (BH-200) is described by the company as a first-in-class oral vasopressin receptor antagonist targeting the stress axis. Its Phase 2b OLIVE trial, a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolling more than 300 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), has also been completed under Doebler's oversight.

Professor Thomas Szucs, Chairman of the Board, said Doebler "combines a clear understanding of our science with the commercial judgement needed to build a company," pointing to the MEDICE partnership and Series B close as evidence of his track record.

Market context

The treatment-resistant depression space has seen sustained commercial and clinical activity following the approval of esketamine nasal spray (Johnson and Johnson's Spravato) by both the FDA and EMA. Oral and at-home formulations of ketamine-derived therapies represent an actively contested subsector: a number of companies are pursuing reformulated or novel administration routes in part to address the clinic-based REMS restrictions that limit Spravato's accessibility. HMNC's positioning of Ketabon as a home-use product is therefore directly responsive to a structural gap in the current standard of care, though at-home ketamine therapy raises its own regulatory scrutiny, particularly around abuse potential and remote patient monitoring.

The vasopressin axis is a less crowded mechanism in depression, and Nelivabon's first-in-class positioning may prove commercially differentiated if Phase 2b data support advancement. Investors will be watching for a full Phase 2b readout timeline for BH-200 and for the company to announce a Phase 3 design for KET01, the more commercially advanced of the two assets.

With a European commercial partner in place and a dual-asset late-stage portfolio, HMNC enters its next development phase with more structural support than most clinical-stage European biotechs at this size. The key near-term milestones will be locking in Phase 3 financing and a regulatory strategy on both sides of the Atlantic.

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