Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Raises $28 Million In Series B Financing Led By OrbiMed Advisors

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has raised $28 million in a Series B financing led by OrbiMed Advisors.  New investor Osage University Partners joined OrbiMed and returning investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and The Aurora Funds in the financing. Proceeds from this latest round will be used to further advance Cardioxyl's second-generation nitroxyl (HNO) donor programs for the treatment of acute and chronic heart failure.  In conjunction with OrbiMed's role as lead investor in this funding round, OrbiMed Venture Partners Peter Thompson, M.D., and Anthony G. Johnson, M.D., have joined the Cardioxyl Board of Directors.  Bill Harrington, M.D., led the financing for Osage University Partners.

"OrbiMed has a strong track record of identifying innovative and successful companies within the healthcare industry. The firm's commitment, along with that of Osage, NEA and Aurora, creates an outstanding investor syndicate," said Chris Kroeger, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Cardioxyl. "We are also very pleased to welcome Peter Thompson and Tony Johnson to the Cardioxyl Board. Their extensive drug development and leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry will be invaluable as we advance HNO drug candidates to help improve the health and quality of life for patients with heart failure."

Peter Thompson, M.D., is a Venture Partner with OrbiMed with over 20 years of industry experience. He co-founded and was CEO of Trubion Pharmaceuticals; co-founded Cleave BioSciences; serves on the Boards of Cleave, Anthera, Methylgene, Principia Biosciences, and Response Biomedical; and previously served as an executive of Chiron Corporation and Becton Dickinson. Dr. Thompson is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awardee, an Affiliate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Washington, an inventor on numerous patents, and a board-certified internist and oncologist. He was on staff at the National Cancer Institute following his internal medicine training at Yale University.

"Cardioxyl's HNO donor programs represent a unique and highly differentiated approach to treating heart failure, with a significant body of human clinical experience," said Dr. Thompson. "I look forward to joining the Cardioxyl Board and helping to advance this novel therapy for a devastating disease that has seen little innovation in clinical practice over the past decade."

Anthony G. Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.B.S., F.R.A.C.P., is also an OrbiMed Venture Partner with more than 20 years of pharmaceutical industry leadership experience. Dr. Johnson led exploratory clinical development as Vice President, Discovery Medicine Clinical Pharmacology at Bristol-Myers Squibb and was on the executive team of a Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery responsible for multiple therapeutic areas at GlaxoSmithKline. He established the James Lance GlaxoWelcome Medicines Research Unit and had a tenured academic appointment at Queensland University, where he completed extensive clinical research. He is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and is board certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, and clinical pharmacology with 18 years of broad clinical experience.

"Cardioxyl has an exciting opportunity to impact heart failure, a disease with a high degree of unmet medical need," said Dr. Johnson. "The pharmacological effects anticipated from an HNO donor, namely improved cardiac relaxation, combined with enhanced cardiac contractility and peripheral vasodilation, can address a broad spectrum of the physiologic abnormalities observed in this disorder."

About Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals

Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of new classes of safe and effective therapeutic agents for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Cardioxyl has developed industry-leading expertise in the chemistry, biology and clinical applications of nitroxyl (HNO) technology. The company's core HNO platform has generated several pre-clinical and clinical candidates. Cardioxyl is a privately held company financed by life science venture investors, including New Enterprise Associates, OrbiMed, Aurora Funds and Osage University Partners.

SOURCE Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc.