Company name: Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
Solution/product: The drug development company’s lead product in its pipeline, CXL-1020 is a compound designed to treat acute decompensated heart failure, the top reason for hospitalization among adults aged 65 or older in the US. The condition results in reduced cardiac function that typically results in fluid accumulation in the lungs (a condition called pulmonary edema) and severe shortness of breath, according to the company’s website. The therapeutic in Phase 2 development was licensed from Johns Hopkins University. It is designed to improve the performance of heart muscle contractions and widen the blood vessels to increase blood flow without increasing the heart rate. It also has three other cardiovascular disease therapeutics in preclinical development.
Money raised: $28.05 million, according to a Form D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investors: Aurora Funds and New Enterprise Associates
What the money will be used for: Advancing its lead therapeutic through clinical development
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Management team: Christopher Kroeger is the CEO. Prior to joining Cardioxyl he led biopharmaceutical and medical device investments at Aurora Funds. John Reardon, the chief scientific officer previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline for 20 years most recently as senior vice president of discovery research biology, a role in which he was responsible for global pre-clinical research activities. Doug Cowart, a founder of the company, is the executive vice resident of development and regulatory affairs. He previously served as senior director of cardiovascular development at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals.
Market: Acute decompensated heart failure affects about 5 million people. Hospitalizations are a combination of people diagnosed with the condition for the first time and those who suffer from chronic heart failure. It’s a challenging condition for clinicians to treat and has a high mortality rate.
