PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kainomyx, Inc., founded in September 2019 and financed with $7.5M in May 2020, announced a new round of funding of $7.97M to advance its programs in malaria therapeutics, malaria diagnostics and therapeutics for other parasitic diseases. Kainomyx was founded by five current and former Stanford scientists who are experts in the biology, biochemistry, and biophysics of the cytoskeletal proteins of cells - James Spudich, PhD, Annamma Spudich, PhD, Darshan Trivedi, PhD, Suman Nag, PhD and Kathleen Ruppel, MD, PhD. Together, they share a conviction that there is a critical need for new therapeutic innovations for treating malaria, leishmaniasis, and other parasitic diseases.
About Parasite Diseases
Parasitic infections cause devastating health and economic consequences world-wide and remain some of the most significant public health challenges globally. Until recently, parasitic diseases were considered to be confined to non-western nations. However, world-wide travel and on-going alterations in climatic conditions have made boundaries more porous, and diseases once restricted to specific areas are becoming global.
There is an urgent need for novel therapies to treat parasitic diseases. The mechanisms of action of current therapeutics for malaria are generally not well understood, and resistance is now developing against Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT), the current primary therapy for malaria. Thus, novel targets for malaria drug development are in great need.
Kainomyx Focus
Kainomyx is focusing on targeting the cytoskeletal proteins of parasites to develop small molecule therapeutics targeted at malaria and other parasitic diseases. Kainomyx is leveraging its academic and biotech expertise bolstered by a strong group of scientific consultants to target one of the most devastating diseases of all time, malaria. In 2019, malaria killed 409,000 people, 67% of which were children under the age of five. Kainomyx is not only developing novel therapeutic approaches to treat malaria, but also developing sensitive, accurate, easy to execute diagnostic tests to identify asymptomatic carriers who contribute to the transmission of malaria parasites. Kainomyx is pursuing the necessary targets to achieve these goals.
Funding of Kainomyx
In just over one year, Kainomyx has been successful in raising ~$15.5M to advance its programs on neglected tropical diseases with a primary focus on malaria. Initial funding for Kainomyx of $7.5M came in May 2020 through the primary investor William J. Rutter, PhD, co-founder of the early biotech company Chiron and multiple other companies. Additional funding was provided by Open Philanthropy and James and Annamma Spudich. Given strong data and significant progress in a year, Kainomyx raised an additional $6M in September 2021 through the same investors. In addition, Kainomyx received a grant of $1.97M from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance Kainomyx’s program in malaria therapeutics.
Contact:
Kainomyx Inc.
info@kainomyx.com
