Auxilius Pharma has raised $1 million in seed funding to develop its lead asset, AUX-001, a new medication for treating chronic-stable angina pectoris in the US. The company is developing the drug as there have been very few medications developed to address chest pain symptoms suffered by patients with underlying coronary artery disease. Auxilius plans to conduct a first-in-human exploratory pharmacokinetic study later this year and file an IND. It will then conduct a single phase 3 clinical trial of AUX-001 for the treatment of chronic angina in stable coronary disease patients compared to placebo.
Auxilius Pharma was set up in 2019 by Uwe Tigör and Jed Liwiniuk after they met during a master's program at Columbia University. They chose to develop AUX-001 as it features anti-anginal efficacy on par with currently approved anti-anginal medications such as beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, or long-acting nitrates but also features cardioprotective effects. The medication is expected to be granted a five-year New Chemical Entity market exclusivity in the US where the reference product has never been approved. The funding round led by venture capital fund Cof