Peroxitech Therapeutics Secures Seed Financing to Advance New Treatment of Acute Lung Injury
PHILADELPHIA: Peroxitech Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing PIP-2 to reverse acute lung injury (ALI) by targeting the cytokine storm cascade process, has announced their launch with a seed investment from Xontogeny, LLC to advance their lead program through completion of IND-enabling work, including pharmacokinetics studies and additional toxicology preclinical trials.
“We are thrilled to have Xontogeny as a collaborative partner and are excited for their seed investment to support IND-enabling work for our lead program,” said Thomas Han, Chief Executive Officer, Peroxitech Therapeutics. “As the Xontogeny team shares our goal of rapidly advancing our technology, we are confident this will be a strong partnership. Working with a team of individuals with experience across many sectors in the biotechnology industry will be crucial for our goals of bringing our product into the clinic as quickly as possible to treat the urgent need for COVID-19 induced ALI.”
There are an estimated 190,000 cases of ALI in the US each year; incidences of ALI are expected to increase both nationally and globally as COVID-19 infections lead to additional cases of ALI. Peroxitech’s lead product, PIP-2 is delivered into the lungs to prevent the cytokine storm cascade to treat and prevent ALI. PIP-2 helps to target cytokine build up in the lungs that leads to respiratory failure with hypoxemia and tissue acidosis, regardless of etiology. More specifically, PIP-2 targets peroxiredoxin 6 (Prdx6), a newly discovered pathway in the cytokine storm cascade process. As current medical response consists primarily of lung protective ventilation, PIP-2 could offer a breakthrough modality to prevent and rescue patients with ALI.
Infections and trauma, including from COVID-19 infection, activates the cytokine storm cascade, which causes lung inflammation and results in oxidative stress and cell death, resulting in ALI. Pathophysiology of ALI is essentially the same no matter the etiology, causing alteration of the lung alveolar capillary barrier leading to lung edema and respiratory failure. Patients with ALI spend an average of 32 days in the hospital, with 20 of those days spent under mechanical ventilation. Mortality in patients experiencing ALI has been shown in studies to be as high as 40%, and ALI is the leading cause of death in COVID-19 cases.
“We are excited to announce our collaboration with Peroxitech to address the unmet need for developing drugs to treat and prevent acute lung injury,” said Chris Garabedian, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Xontogeny. “Developing treatments for acute lung injury is more pressing than ever, as it is the leading cause of death following COVID-19 infections. The Xontogeny team has enjoyed working with the Peroxitech team, and we are aligned on the key milestones that we plan to achieve with this seed investment.”
The Board of Directors will be comprised of Thomas Han CEO of Peroxitech, Chris Garabedian, Chairman & CEO of Xontogeny, and Fred Callori, SVP of Corporate Development of Xontogeny.
