NEW YORK – XyloCor Therapeutics on Tuesday said it has raised $67.5 million in Series B financing, which it will use to further develop a gene therapy for cardiovascular disease.
The funding round was led by Jeito Capital, and Rachel Mears, a partner at Jeito Capital, will join XyloCor's board of directors. Existing institutional investors EQT, Fountain Healthcare Partners, and Lumira Ventures also participated in the financing.
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based XyloCor will use the proceeds to conduct two double-blind Phase II trials of its lead gene therapy candidate, XC001. "The support of this prominent group of life sciences investors is recognition of the progress we have made and confidence in our ability to reach important milestones in the path ahead," XyloCor President and CEO Al Gianchetti said in a statement. "With this financing, we can accelerate our clinical development of XC001, completing two Phase II clinical trials, and achieve our mission to help people with cardiovascular disease who have no treatment options."
XC001, also known as encoberminogene rezmadenovec, is an adenoviral vector-based therapy designed to express multiple isoforms of VEGF, a protein that stimulates the formation of new blood vessels. In patients with angina, blood vessels supplying oxygen to the heart are blocked or narrowed due to buildup of fatty deposits, which causes chest pain.
XyloCor is aiming to prove in clinical trials that XC001 can promote the development of new blood vessels in the heart that can improve blood flow. The firm believes this treatment can benefit more than 1 million people in the US with debilitating and chronic conditions who are out of treatment options. The gene therapy has already demonstrated the ability to relieve chest pain in refractory angina patients in a Phase I/II trial.
With these new funds, the company wants to build on this data and advance XC001 into a randomized, double‑blind Phase IIb study, called EXACT‑2, this year in refractory angina patients. In the study, researchers will use an injection catheter to nonsurgically administer the gene therapy into the endocardium.
XyloCor will also use the Series B funds to test XC001 in a second randomized, double‑blind Phase II trial as an adjunctive treatment to coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), a procedure used to improve oxygen levels and blood blow in arteries that are significantly blocked.
A third of the 40,000 CABG procedures performed in the US each year don't end up completely vascularizing coronary arteries, according to data cited by XyloCor. As a result, patients can end up in the hospital, undergo repeat revascularization procedures, experience persistent angina symptoms, and die. By administering XC001 during CABG, XyloCor is hoping to spur the growth of new blood vessels in areas of the heart not reached by bypass grafts. The firm aims to treat the first patient with XC001 in this Phase II study by year-end.