X4 Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical stage biotechnology company, raised $37.5m in Series A financing.
Maxim Merchant Capital, a wholly owned division of Maxim Group LLC, served as the sole placement agent for the financing, with Cormorant Asset Management serving as lead investor. Henri Termeer, the former Chairman, president and CEO of Genzyme, is a founding advisor and investor in X4.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Paula Ragan, PhD, X4 Pharmaceuticals is developing novel therapeutics designed to improve immune cell trafficking and increase the ability for T-cells to track and destroy cancer cells. The company’s oral small molecule drug candidates inhibit the CXCR4 receptor, a pathway which plays a central role in promoting the immunosuppressive and pro-angiogenic microenvironment of many cancers.
X4P-001, its lead program, is expected to enter Phase 1/2 testing in refractory clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and other solid tumor indications, and its second program, X4P-002, is in pre-clinical development for oncology applications.
The company is co-founded by Keith Flaherty, MD, the director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Alan Walts, PhD, Interim Chairman, and Renato Skerlj, PhD. Robert Arbeit, MD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Translational Research, and Alison Lawton, consulting Chief Operating Officer, are also part of the managment team.
FinSMEs
14/12/2015