AirNexis Therapeutics is taking flight with $200 million and a clinical-stage asset from a Chinese pharma that aims to treat lung disease.
Founded by investment firm Frazier Life Sciences, new biotech AirNexis has connected with Haisco Pharmaceutical Group, securing exclusive rights outside of China to the company’s experimental PDE3/4 inhibitor.
AirNexis has handed over $40 million in cash for Haisco’s HSK39004, coded by AirNexis as AN01. Under the terms of the deal, Haisco will hold a 19.9% equity stake in the biotech, while also earning the chance to make up to $955 million in regulatory and commercial milestone payments, plus royalties.
Last year, Haisco launched three phase 2 trials evaluating different dosage forms of the investigational inhaler for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to ClinicalTrials.gov. AN01’s dual mechanism of action is designed to expand the airways and reduce the release of inflammatory factors.
Fueling AirNexis, meanwhile, is a $200 million series A financing led by founder Frazier Life Sciences, with participation from OrbiMed, Life Sciences at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, SR One, Longitude Capital and Enavate Sciences, among others.
The California-based biotech is guided by CEO Maria Fardis, Ph.D., venture partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners and former CEO of antibody-focused biotech Lassen Therapeutics. Fardis joins a small group of women leading biotech startups.
Related
“While recent therapeutic advances have given the COPD community new treatment options, we believe there is room for improvement with respect to efficacy and patient experience,” Fardis said in a Jan. 9 release. “With two dosage forms available, an inhalation suspension and an inhalation powder, AN01 may offer meaningful therapeutic options over those that are currently available.”
Investor Frazier has been involved in the launch of more than 20 new biotechs since 2020, such as cardiometabolic-focused NewAmsterdam Pharma and dermatology biotech Arcutis Biotherapeutics. Last summer, the firm secured $1.3 billion for its twelfth venture fund aimed at private biotechs.