Los Gatos, California-based Advanced NanoTherapies, which develops the SirPlux Duo drug-coated balloon (DCB) for treating de novo coronary artery disease (CAD) lesions, has now raised $12.5 million in total since September 2020.
The company said in a news release that the latest funds came from various contributors in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Funds will be used to complete the first-in-human clinical study of SirPlux Duo in Australia.
“Interventional therapies have historically advanced in big steps – angioplasty, bare-metal stenting, drug-eluting stenting,” Advanced NanoTherapies board of directors member Reggie Groves said in the release. “We believe the interventional cardiology space is poised for the next disruption in the treatment of coronary artery disease with the unique offering of the SirPlux Duo DCB. We are pleased to initiate the next phase of Advanced NanoTherapies’ clinical program.”
SirPlux Duo combines sirolimus and paclitaxel to create a next-generation front-line therapy designed to provide stent-like patency and restenosis prevention while leaving no implant behind. Advanced NanoTherapies said the DCB delivers low-dose, long-term release of both compounds to inhibit cell growth, resulting in maximum potency exceeding any other DCB or drug-eluting stent.
“Sirolimus and paclitaxel are both proven drugs in the vascular space, each with unique benefits, limitations, and mechanisms of action,” Advanced NanoTherapies CMO Dr. Mehdi Shishehbor — also president at Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals Health System and professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine — said. “Pre-clinical data has shown that using both drugs in combination results in higher antiproliferative potency at lower doses than using each drug independently. The synergistic effects of eluting them simultaneously over long periods may be the key to sustaining patency following interventions.”
Advanced NanoTherapies’ nanoparticle drug encapsulation and delivery platform provides safe, reliable and sustained bioavailability for the two synergistic drugs in tissue, the company said.
“We are excited to close this round as we prepare for clinical testing of the SirPlux Duo DCB in de novo CAD patients,” Advanced NanoTherapies co-founder and CEO Marwan Berrada said. “Thank you to everyone involved in helping us reach this important milestone. The Series A funding will allow us to gather first-in-human clinical data before the end of 2022, a key step to accelerating the paradigm shift of leaving nothing behind in coronary arteries.”
