RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Evecxia, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases, today announced it has completed its Series A financing, raising $6.5m. This financing will fund the early development of EVX-101, the Company’s lead clinical-stage product candidate for the adjunctive treatment of depression in patients responding inadequately to first-line antidepressants. Depression affects 16 million people in the US, but less than half respond adequately to current first-line treatments. The Company expects adjunctive EVX-101 to be effective in depression patients not responding to first-line treatments, with better safety and efficacy than current second-line treatments.
The Company also announced that it has dosed the first subject in EVX101-101, a Phase 1 study to assess the pharmacokinetics of EVX-101 in healthy volunteers. EVX-101 is a unique and proprietary oral slow-release formulation of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) and low-dose carbidopa. EVX-101 is the first drug working by increasing brain serotonin synthesis.
“This financing enables Evecxia to complete formulation development and two Phase 1 pharmacokinetics studies and make EVX-101 ready for Phase 1 safety trials. Extensive human and animal data suggest 5-HTP has therapeutic potential across a wide range of therapeutic indications. But poor pharmacokinetics renders 5-HTP impractical as a drug. EVX-101 is designed to overcome 5-HTP’s pharmacokinetic shortcomings and, for the first time, druggify 5-HTP,” said John Kaiser, Evecxia CEO and Interim Chairman of the Board. "We are honored to have an outstanding group of investors who share our vision and are providing the funding to enable us to move EVX-101 forward.”
In addition, Evecxia announced today that it is working with Tempus, a technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare, to integrate genetic, metabolomic, biochemical, and clinical data for deeper analysis.
“Tempus and Evecxia share a mission to improve the lives of patients suffering from neuropsychiatric diseases. Given discreet pharmacology and the availability of serotonin-related biomarkers across multiple clinical dimensions, Evecxia’s 5-HTP-based drug candidates are ideally suited for precision medicine. Together, we look forward to applying a data-driven approach to upcoming clinical trials to match the right patients to the right treatment,” said Jacob Jacobsen, Ph.D., Founder, Chief Scientific Officer of Evecxia.
About Evecxia
Evecxia is a privately funded, clinical stage pharmaceutical company, located in the Research Triangle Park, NC. Evecxia's mission is to develop and commercialize EVX-101 and related drug candidates to treat patients suffering from disabling, common, and costly neuropsychiatric conditions in which current therapies, in many cases, are sub-optimal.
Evecxia is the first company dedicated to realizing the therapeutic potential of 5-HTP via specialized Rx combinations and drug delivery dosage forms. Evecxia has licensed a comprehensive portfolio of issued and pending patents on the 5-HTP slow-release method and related technologies from Duke University and Duke-National University Singapore.
About EVX-101
EVX-101 is a unique and proprietary oral slow-release formulation of 5-HTP and low-dose carbidopa. Initially, EVX-101 will be developed and positioned as a first-line adjunctive treatment in depressed patients responding inadequately to conventional first-line SSRI/SNRI antidepressants. As an antidepressant, the development of EVX-101, a new chemical entity (NCE), is uniquely de-risked because the therapeutic mechanism—elevating extracellular serotonin beyond the effect of conventional SSRI/SNRI antidepressants—enjoys human proof-of-concept for efficacy and safety.
About Tempus
Tempus is a technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. With one of the world’s largest libraries of clinical and molecular data, and an operating system to make that data accessible and useful, Tempus enables physicians to make real-time, data-driven decisions to deliver personalized patient care and in parallel facilitates discovery, development and delivery of optimal therapeutics. The goal is for each patient to benefit from the treatment of others who came before by providing physicians with tools that learn as the company gathers more data. For more information, visit tempus.com.
For more information about the Evecxia and its product candidates, please visit www.evecxia.com or contact info@evecxia.com.