VarmX is a biotech company focusing on the development of innovative approaches for the reversal of anticoagulation.
Currently, over 10 million patients in the US and Europe are treated with oral factor Xa inhibitors (FXa DOACs) as anticoagulation therapy in large chronic indications such as the avoidance of stroke in atrial fibrillation and the prevention of deep vein thrombosis. Each year, 2-3% of patients taking FXa DOACs experience spontaneous and severe life-threatening bleeding. Furthermore, a significant number of patients taking these anticoagulants have to undergo emergency surgery, with the associated risk of bleeding. The medicine has been inspired on Australian snake venom.
VarmX’s lead compound VMX-C001 is a modified recombinant coagulation factor X in development for the treatment of severe spontaneous bleeding in patients taking FXa DOACs. It is also aimed at the prevention of bleeding in patients requiring emergency surgery. VMX-C001 is based on research conducted by VarmX’s founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Pieter Reitsma, Professor Emeritus at Leiden University Medical Center. VarmX has obtained an exclusive license to these inventions.
The proceeds from the Series B financing will enable VarmX to obtain clinical proof of concept through a first in human study of VMX-C001, and to further progress the program towards the start of registrational studies in both the severe bleeding and emergency surgery indications. VarmX will also use the funds to accelerate the manufacturing trajectory for VMX-C001 towards commercial-scale, extend profiling studies for optimal clinical and commercial positioning, and advance its discovery platform program for next generation reversal agents. NautaDutilh has assisted VarMx from their seed round, through the Series A to a very successful series B now!
Click here for VarmX's press release and here for the (Dutch) article in Het Financieele Dagblad covering this transaction.