XTuit Pharmaceuticals Closes $22 Million Series A Financing to Advance Novel Microenvironmental Modulators for Cancers and Fibrotic Disorders
XTuit Pharmaceuticals has announced a $22 million Series A financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the development of XTuit’s lead products into the clinic in oncology and liver cirrhosis and NASH and to build its biomarker platform which will enable rapid clinical proof-of-concept. The Series A financing was led by New Enterprise Associates and joined by founding investor Polaris Partners, and new investors CTI Life Sciences, Arcus Ventures and Omega Funds.
“We are excited to close our Series A round with a strong syndicate validating our novel therapeutic approach. The microenvironment represents an important new target for therapeutic intervention that could have profound implications in oncology and fibrotic disease,” said Alan Crane, CEO of XTuit. “This financing will enable us to demonstrate the activity of our lead products in human trials. Our objective is to show in clinical studies that we can significantly improve outcomes in oncology with immune checkpoint drugs as well as other cancer agents and that we can rapidly and significantly reverse fibrosis in liver cirrhosis and NASH.”
XTuit’s proprietary, microenvironment-activated drugs have unique, single agent, disease reversing activity in fibrotic inflammatory conditions. In addition, the drugs have strong synergistic combination activity in cancer where they enhance anti-tumor efficacy of standard-of-care drugs, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy, and targeted agents. To support the development of its drugs, the company is building a novel quantitative, tissue-based biomarker platform for efficacy prediction.
“The microenvironment has been increasingly recognized over the last several years for its critical role in disease progression as well as in drug and immune resistance. We are very excited about the opportunity to translate this novel area of science into significant impact on clinical treatment outcomes across cancers and fibrotic diseases. Our scientific founders, Rakesh K. Jain, professor at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Robert Langer, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ronald Evans, professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, have played a leadership role in elucidating these novel mechanisms and developing drugs to address these processes,” said Peter Blume-Jensen, Chief Scientific Officer of XTuit.
“Our microenvironment-activated agents inhibit key mechanisms, including hypoxia, abnormal matrix accumulation, recruitment of stromal cells and aberrant stromal signaling. Because of the mechanisms involved, these agents are particularly suitable for biomarker-accelerated clinical development.”
“We are very excited to be investors in XTuit. The company combines world-class scientific and business teams, a fundamental and potentially breakthrough mechanistic approach to disease, and a rapid path to demonstration of efficacy in people,” said David Mott, General Partner and head of the healthcare practice of New Enterprise Associates. In connection with the financing, Mr Mott will join the board of XTuit.
Related News
-
News Patients vs Pharma – who will the Inflation Reduction Act affect the most?
The Inflation Reduction Act brought in by the Biden administration in 2022 aims to give better and more equitable access to healthcare in the USA. However, pharma companies are now concerned about the other potential costs of such legislation. -
News CPHI Podcast Series: What does the changing US Pharma market mean for industry and patients alike?
In this week's episode of the CPHI Podcast Series Lucy Chard, Digital Editor for CPHI Online is joined by James Manser to discuss the political and market changes in the US pharma field. -
News CPHI Barcelona Annual Report illuminates industry trends for 2024
The CPHI Annual Survey comes into it’s 7th year to report on the predicted trends for 2024. Over 250 pharma executives were asked 35 questions, with their answers informing the industry landscape for the next year, spanning all major pharma marke... -
News Which 10 drugs are open to price negotiation with Medicare in the USA?
The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services, under the Biden administration in the USA, has released a list of the 10 drugs that will be open to price negotiations as part of the new legislation under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). -
News EU Medical Devices Regulation causes unintended disappearances of medical devices for children, doctors state
Doctor groups and associations have appealed to the EU to correct the EU Medical Devices Regulation law that may cause unintended shortages of essential drug and medical devices for children and rare disease patients. -
News 10 Major Drug Approvals So Far in 2023
Last year, 37 novel drugs were approved by the FDA, this was a high number for such a category, and covered many fields including oncology, demonstrating how promising further research is, and how it is only continuing to build. To date, there are alre... -
News Detecting Alzheimer's disease with a simple lateral flow test
A novel rapid diagnostic test for early-stage Alzheimer's disease has been developed using a biomarker binder from Aptamer Group along with technology from Neuro-Bio, the neurodegenerative disease experts. -
News CPHI Podcast Series: outsourcing and manufacturing trends
Listen to the CPHI Podcast Series this June to hear Gil Roth of the PBOA speak with Digital Editor Lucy Chard about the biggest trends and topics to watch in pharma outsourcing and manufacturing at the minute.
Position your company at the heart of the global Pharma industry with a CPHI Online membership
-
Your products and solutions visible to thousands of visitors within the largest Pharma marketplace
-
Generate high-quality, engaged leads for your business, all year round
-
Promote your business as the industry’s thought-leader by hosting your reports, brochures and videos within your profile
-
Your company’s profile boosted at all participating CPHI events
-
An easy-to-use platform with a detailed dashboard showing your leads and performance