JIXING Announces Acquisition of an Innovative Cardiovascular Asset for Global Development
JIXING continues to expand its cardiovascular pipeline and build full life cycle innovation capabilities
Shanghai, China, February 6, 2023 – Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals Limited (JIXING), a biopharmaceutical company committed to bringing innovative medicines to underserved Chinese patients with serious and life-threatening diseases, today announces the acquisition of global rights to an innovative asset in the cardiovascular field. Through the asset purchase, JIXING will obtain global rights to PB6440 from PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (PhaseBio). PB6440 is a novel drug candidate under preclinical development for patients with significant unmet medical needs including hypertension.
Aldosterone is an important regulator of blood pressure and electrolyte balance. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist or aldosterone antagonist has been proven effective in clinical settings for numerous cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. Directly targeting the synthesis of aldosterone has been developed as a novel alternative strategy to avoid the unwanted side effects of nonspecific mineralocorticoid receptor blockade. PB6440 is a next-generation, highly selective aldosterone synthase inhibitor. Preclinical data suggest that PB6440 offers strong potency inhibiting aldosterone synthase, with very little impact on the biological functions of a homologous enzyme that is key to cortisol synthesis. The high potency and selectivity make PB6440 a potential best-in-class drug candidate.
“PB6440 is our first asset with global rights in the cardiovascular field. The acquisition not only expands our cardiovascular pipeline, but also demonstrates our ambition to strengthen our global development capabilities,” said Sandy Mou, Chief Executive Officer of JIXING. “Currently there is no aldosterone synthase inhibitor drug with hypertension indication approved in the world and no clinical trial conducted in China. We will further drive the clinical development of PB6440, a potential best-in-class drug candidate, in the future.”
“JIXING is committed to becoming an innovative China biotech with global reach. After this acquisition, we will have two preclinical assets with global rights, including PB6440 in the cardiovascular field and JX08 in the ophthalmology field. Our goal is to build full life-cycle innovation capabilities in clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization to enable innovation based in China to benefit patients globally. " said Ms. Mou.
There were approximately 1.28 billion hypertension patients in the world and approximately 245 million hypertension patients in China. Hypertension is not only the chronic non-infectious disease with the largest number of patients, but also the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease in China. Epidemiological surveys show that the awareness rate, treatment rate and control rate of hypertension are in China are 51.6%, 45.8% and 16.8%, respectively, which are all relatively low.
Additional information
JIXING is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Shanghai committed to bringing innovative science and medicines to underserved patients in China with serious and life-threatening diseases. Backed by RTW Investments, LP, JIXING was founded in 2019 and partners with global biotechnology companies to develop and commercialize novel, innovative therapeutics to treat unmet medical needs in cardiovascular and ophthalmic diseases. With a strong and further developing asset pipeline, seasoned management team, and patient-centric focus, JIXING is dedicated to delivering a meaningful and lasting impact on patients in China. For additional information about JIXING, visit www.jixing.com.
Contacts:
References:
- Lee J, Schotzinger J, et al. The Selective Aldosterone Synthase Inhibitor PB6440 Normalizes Blood Pressure In A Human Aldosterone Synthase-Transgenic Mouse Model Of Hypertension, Hypertension 2022, 79, A121.
- Pitt B, Bhatt D, et al, Inhibition Of Aldosterone Synthesis In Non-human Primates By PB6440, The Novel Highly Selective And Potent CYP11B2 Inhibitor, Hypertension 2020, 76, AP233.
- NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: a pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants, The Lancet 2021, 398, 10304, 957-980.
- National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of hypertension in China. China J Cardiol, 2022, 50(11): 1050-1095.
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