KeifeRx Completes $6 Million Series A Financing and Enhances Board of Directors

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KeifeRx, LLC, an emerging clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of new treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that it has raised $6 million in a Series A financing with the participation of new and existing investors. KeifeRx plans to utilize the proceeds from the financing to advance its pipeline of optimized, low dose, orally delivered tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for the treatment of multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, and Huntington's disease.

In conjunction with the financing, KeifeRx announced that it has appointed Janis Buchanan, MBA, and Matthew Petzold to its Board of Directors. Ms. Buchanan will serve as the Chair of the Board. Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Petzold join existing Board members, Fernando Pagan, MD, and Chris Hoyt, Chief Executive Officer of KeifeRx.

"The close of the $6 million Series A and the reconstitution of our Board is an important moment in the evolution of KeifeRx as we are now in position to accelerate the development of our portfolio of optimized TKIs, specifically designed for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases," said Chris Hoyt, Chief Executive Officer of KeifeRx. "KeifeRx's clinical pipeline is led by Nilotinib BE, an optimized, lower dose formulation of nilotinib, which we plan to investigate in a multicenter Phase 3 clinical trial in early Alzheimer's disease. This financing and the Board appointments provide the groundwork for KeifeRx to initiate the Nilotinib BE Phase 3 clinical trial in early 2022 as we seek to change the landscape of neurodegenerative disease treatment by harnessing the ability of our optimized TKIs to penetrate the brain, induce autophagy, and enable the bulk disposal of disease-causing toxic proteins."

"Current neurodegenerative disease treatments are primarily palliative and offer minimal benefits due to their inability to adequately eliminate the toxic proteins that are the root of such debilitating diseases as Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia," said Charbel Moussa, MBBS, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Georgetown University and Co-Founder and Director of KeifeRx's Scientific Advisory Board. "Research conducted under my direction at Georgetown provided strong evidence that TKIs inhibit specific receptors such as DDR, SRC/ABL and KIT, trigger autophagy, reduce toxic proteins, including amyloid and tau, and eliminate inflammation in the brain. KeifeRx was founded to maximize this potential and, with this initial financing and our Board of Directors in place, we are now a step closer to hopefully provide relief to the millions of people worldwide whose lives are impacted by neurodegenerative diseases."

KeifeRx's clinical pipeline is led by Nilotinib BE, an optimized formulation of nilotinib that is delivered as an oral capsule and uses a lower dose (84mg and 112mg daily) compared to what is currently approved as a treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (600mg-1200mg daily). An IND for a 1,275 patient, multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind Phase 3 clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of Nilotinib BE on the progression of dementia in early Alzheimer's disease has been cleared by the FDA. The Phase 3 trial – NILEAD – is expected to initiate in early 2022. 

KeifeRx has rights to cross reference the INDs for the clinical trials of nilotinib conducted at Georgetown University. Georgetown University has completed a Phase 2 clinical trial in Parkinson's disease and is currently conducting clinical trials in Lewy body dementia (Phase 2) and Huntington's disease (Phase 1b). In addition to Nilotinib, KeifeRx's TKI portfolio includes an optimized oral dose of Bosutinib, which is the subject of a Phase 2 clinical program in Lewy body dementia at Georgetown, and Gutinib, which is currently undergoing optimizing and IND enabling studies at Georgetown involving four separate formulations with patent life through 2037.

KeifeRx Enhances its Board of Directors

KeifeRx has reconstituted its Board with the appointment of Janis Buchanan, MBA, as Chair and and Matthew Petzold as a Director. 

Prior to joining KeifeRx's Board, Ms. Buchanan spent the last decade funding Parkinson's Disease research and co-founded the Fund a Fellow program at Georgetown University. Ms. Buchanan earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Matthew Petzold is the Chief Financial Officer at Sprout Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he was instrumental in the company being acquired by Valeant for $1 billion. Prior to Sprout, Mr. Petzold served as CFO at Smart Sky Networks and Bandwidth.com. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Gettysburg College.

"We are very excited to welcome Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Petzold to our Board of Directors. These are distinguished individuals in the neurodegenerative diseases field who bring an unmatched wealth of experience and knowledge to KeifeRx," said Mr. Hoyt. "Their insights will be a tremendous asset as we advance the development of our TKI portfolio and prepare for the initiation of the Phase 3 clinical trial of Nilotinib BE."

About KeifeRx: 
KeifeRx, LLC, is an emerging clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of optimized, low dose, orally delivered tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for the treatment of multiple neurodegenerative diseases.  KeifeRx's optimized TKIs are designed to penetrate the brain, induce autophagy, and treat neurodegenerative diseases through the bulk disposal of disease-causing toxic proteins. KeifeRx's clinical pipeline is led by Nilotinib BE, an optimized, lower dose formulation of nilotinib delivered as an oral capsule, which the company is advancing in a multicenter Phase 3 clinical trial in early Alzheimer's disease (NILEAD).  KeifeRx has rights to cross reference the INDs for the clinical trials of nilotinib conducted at Georgetown University. Georgetown University has completed a Phase 2 clinical trial in Parkinson's disease and is currently conducting clinical trials in Lewy body dementia (Phase 2) and Huntington's disease (Phase 1b).  In addition to Nilotinib, KeifeRx's TKI portfolio includes an optimized oral dose of Bosutinib, which is the subject of a Phase 2 clinical program in Lewy body dementia at Georgetown, and Gutinib, which is currently undergoing optimizing and IND enabling studies at Georgetown involving four separate formulations.  Georgetown University owns several issued patents and pending patent applications on the underlying technology that relates to the use of TKIs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases with Charbel Moussa, MBBS, Ph.D., as an inventor. KeifeRx has an exclusive option to license the intellectual property from Georgetown University. For more information on KeifeRx, please visit https://www.keiferx.com.

Contacts

Investors:  
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc. 
Jason Rando / Lisa Sher
[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE KeifeRx, LLC