UK-based artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled drug discovery company Healx on Thursday announced that it has raised $47 million in a Series C round.
The round was co-led by US-based R42 Group and Atomico, one of Europe’s largest venture capital firms, with participation from new and existing investors, the company said.
The funding will be used to advance the company’s pipeline of medicines in rare oncology, renal and neurodevelopmental disorders, including advancing its lead programme HLX-1502 through a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1).
HLX-1502 is a tablet taken orally that works differently than other treatments and offers a new and differentiated investigational treatment option for patients with NF1 (a rare genetic disorder associated with predisposition to develop multiple benign and malignant tumours).
“By December 2024, we will advance HLX-1502 into a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with NF1 both for plexiform neurofibroma, a genetic condition with limited treatment options and for cutaneous neurofibroma, for which there are no FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved options,” said Tim Guilliams, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Healx.
“We are also generating important preclinical data for multiple additional compounds identified using our novel generative AI drug discovery engine,” he added.
The CEO also mentioned that those compounds target rare diseases with significant unmet needs, including additional nerve-related tumor disorders, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and neurodevelopmental disorders such as Angelman syndrome.
In addition, the company announced that it has received clearance from the US FDA to proceed with its Phase 2 clinical trial of HLX-1502. This trial will focus on treating adults with NF1 and inoperable plexiform neurofibroma.
Healx was co-founded by its chairman and Viagra co-inventor David Brown, PhD, and Guilliams, with a mission to apply emerging technologies to speed the discovery of rare disease treatments.