LEXEO Therapeutics, in its SEC filing, said it intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with their existing cash, to advance the clinical development of LX2006, LX2020 and LX1001, to fund the continued development of our other programs and cardiac discovery efforts, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
“We are a clinical stage genetic medicine company dedicated to transforming healthcare by applying pioneering science to fundamentally change how disease is treated. By taking aim at the underlying genetic cause of the devastating diseases we target, we seek to create substantial positive impact and reduce the overwhelming burdens placed on people receiving treatment, their caregivers, and healthcare systems. Our current pipeline consists of candidates targeting patient populations that place significant burden on society and are most amenable to our genetic medicine approach.
Our most advanced cardiovascular product candidate, LX2006 for the treatment of patients with Friedreich’s ataxia, or FA, cardiomyopathy, is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial and we have observed an increase in frataxin protein expression in the heart from one patient in the low dose cohort based on a cardiac biopsy utilizing two separate analyses. We expect to report additional interim data from this trial in mid-2024. Our second most advanced cardiovascular product candidate, LX2020 for the treatment of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, or ACM, caused by mutations in the PKP2 gene, referred to as PKP2-ACM, received investigational new drug, or IND, clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, in July 2023 and we expect to dose the first patient in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in the first half of 2024 and provide an interim data readout from cohort 1 in the second half of 2024.
Our lead Alzheimer’s disease product candidate, LX1001, for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous patients with Alzheimer’s disease, is in an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial, and we have initially observed an increase in expression levels of the protective protein, APOE2, in the first dose cohort and a consistent trend towards improvement in core Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. We expect to complete enrollment in the trial by the end of 2023 and report additional interim data from all cohorts in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial in the second half of 2024.
We are targeting diseases that have seen limited penetration of precision medicine, which we define as medications that treat the underlying molecular mechanism of a disease, and where we believe there is significant opportunity for gene therapy to play a role as a key therapeutic option. We believe the specific indications we are initially targeting, FA cardiomyopathy, PKP2-ACM and APOE4-associated Alzheimer’s disease, are highly amenable to gene therapy, where administration of a single dose has the potential to either restore loss-of-function or minimize gain-of-function mutations by treating the underlying genetic cause of the disease. Although few precision medicines are currently approved for the treatment of cardiovascular conditions or Alzheimer’s disease, recent approvals by the FDA suggest a willingness to approve new precision medicines based on biomarkers and functional endpoints. Together with improved diagnostics and increased testing, these developments may offer one of the most substantial opportunities for the uptake of precision medicines in the global pharmaceutical marketplace.
Each of our gene therapy candidates utilizes the vector construct, dose and route of administration that we believe will result in the most favorable biodistribution and safety profile for our product candidate for each disease. Our most advanced cardiovascular and APOE4-associated Alzheimer’s disease programs use the AAVrh10 vector due to its high transduction efficiency in both myocardial cells and neurons, potential for lower toxicity given the opportunity to utilize lower doses compared to other well-established AAV serotypes, and low pre-existing immunity.”
Source – Securities and Exchange Commission
Avance Biosciences™ offers a series of services that support discoveries in gene therapy and cell therapy including: edited gene testing, CAR T-cell and other cell therapy testing, DNA/RNA biodistribution testing. Contact our technical staff to discuss how we can support you in your project!
