Corxel has raised US$287m in a series D to fund phase 2 studies of its oral GLP-1 receptor agonist for obesity and support planned phase 3 trials.
GLP-1 receptor agonists are medicines that mimic a natural hormone to help control blood sugar and reduce appetite, and have become a major focus in the weight-loss market.
Shanghai-headquartered Corxel licensed the rights outside China to the drug, CX11, from biotech firm Vincentage in late 2024.
Last June, the company presented data from a phase 2 trial run by Vincentage in China that linked a high titration of the highest dose to a 9.7 per cent reduction in body weight at 16 weeks.
Vincentage has already launched a phase 3 study of CX11 in China, while Corxel is running a phase 2 trial in the US in patients who are overweight or living with obesity.
The funding will be used to finance a planned global phase 2 study in patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as support Corxel’s plans for its own phase 3 trials.
Some of the funds will also go towards development of Corxel’s other clinical-stage cardiometabolic assets, including JX10, a drug designed to dissolve blood clots and reduce inflammation for acute ischaemic stroke, and JX09, an aldosterone synthase inhibitor for hypertension.
The series D round saw previous backers RTW Investments and Hengdian Group Capital joined by new investors including SR One, TCGX, RA Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments and SymBiosis.
Roderick Wong, managing partner and chief investment officer at RTW, cited Corxel’s “clinical progress, disciplined execution and seasoned leadership team” as reasons for continued investment.
Corxel chief executive Sandy Mou said the series D round is “one of the most significant milestones for Corxel since its founding,” citing the ability to accelerate global development for new cardiometabolic disease therapies and fuel the company “to a new orbit of growth.”
Corxel, previously known as JiXing Pharmaceuticals, was founded in 2019 and had at one point focused on developing the cardiac myosin inhibitor aficamten in China.
The company sold those rights to Sanofi in 2024, which saw the drug approved in China last year. Aficamten was also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration under the brand name Myqorzo to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy last month.
The funding round comes amid continued investor interest in obesity treatments, with Novo Nordisk recently securing approval for oral Wegovy and Novartis paying US$100m to help strengthen its patent for an oral GLP-1 drug acquired from Carmot Therapeutics.
