CinRx Pharma’s formula of scouting for promising drug assets and forming new companies around them has produced five “CinCos,” one of which successfully went public and went on to an acquisition by a pharmaceutical giant. CinRx now has $73 million in financing to continue its approach to startup creation.
The investors in the financing announced Thursday were not disclosed, identified only as industry insiders and high-net worth individuals. Some of them were earlier investors, CinRx said. To date, the Cincinnati-based company has raised $176 million total.
CinRx operates a “hub and spoke” business model in which in-licensed drug assets are housed in separate subsidiaries, each one sharing in resources and management provided by the parent company. Others have pursued similar approaches, including Roivant Sciences, BridgeBio Pharma, and PureTech Health. The CinRx company that found a successful exit was CinCor Pharma, which was formed to advance the development of baxdrostat, a hypertension drug licensed from Roche. CinCor went public in 2022 and was acquired by AstraZeneca last year for $1.3 billion up front.
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Four other CinRx companies are developing therapies for cardiovascular, metabolic, gastrointestinal, and cancer applications. The CinRx portfolio also includes investments in vTv Therapeutics, which has reached late-stage clinical development with a type 1 diabetes drug, and Retromer Therapeutics, a preclinical company developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
In a prepared statement, CinRx founder and CEO Jon Isaacsohn said CinCor’s exit validates the CinRx business model. The company now aims to expand its efforts to additional areas of high unmet medical need, though specific therapeutic areas of interest were not disclosed.
“With this infusion of capital, we will continue rapid advancement of existing programs and replicate our proven asset selection process to identify and accelerate more promising new programs with high potential to impact patients’ quality of life,” Isaacsohn said.
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