Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, a company developing novel antifungal agents for life-threatening fungal infections, announced that it has raised $67 million through a Series C financing led by Sofinnova Venture Partners and including other new investors Lundbeckfonden Ventures, Arix Bioscience and Pappas Capital. Existing investors New Enterprise Associates, RiverVest Venture Partners, 3×5 RiverVest II and BioMed Ventures also participated in the financing. In conjunction with the financing, Anand Mehra, M.D., managing partner at Sofinnova Ventures, and Johan Kördel, Ph.D., senior partner at Lundbeckfonden Ventures, will join the Amplyx board of directors.
“The strong interest from such high-quality investors further validates our confidence in the potential of our lead drug candidate to combat deadly fungal infections, which pose a serious risk to immunocompromised patients,” said Ciara Kennedy, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals. “Our new investors understand the critical unmet medical need and share Amplyx’s vision of accelerating the development of new treatment options for patients who are faced with these life-threatening infections.”
Amplyx will use the proceeds of the financing to advance the clinical development of APX001, the company’s broad-spectrum antifungal agent, to treat life threatening fungal infections. Intravenous and oral formulations of APX001 have been evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical program, with Phase 2 clinical trials in invasive aspergillosis and invasive candidiasis planned for initiation later this year.
“We have been impressed with Amplyx’s rapid progress and believe the company has a talented and committed team in place to develop this critical asset to reach patients and the market quickly,” said Dr. Mehra. “We look forward to working with Amplyx as they move APX001 into the next phase of development.”
About APX001
APX001 is the prodrug of APX001A, which is a first-in-class small molecule drug candidate that inhibits the conserved fungal enzyme Gwt1, compromising growth of major fungal pathogens, including Candida and Aspergillus. APX001A has been evaluated extensively in preclinical studies, demonstrating broad-spectrum activity against common species of Candida spp., and Aspergillus spp., including multi drug resistant strains, and rare, difficult-to-treat molds including Fusarium spp., Scedosporium spp., and fungi from the Mucorales order.
