Cardurion Pharmaceuticals has completed a $260 million Series B financing, with proceeds intended to advance its pipeline of cardiovascular drugs, as well as acquire additional therapeutic assets addressing unmet needs in cardiovascular disease.
Cardurion’s pipeline is led by two candidates: CRD‑750, a phosphodiesterase-9 (PDE9) inhibitor for chronic heart failure; and CRD-4730, a calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitor that according to the company is the first clinical-stage drug of its kind with broad therapeutic potential.
Both candidates are under study in three Phase II trials, for which Cardurion anticipates data readouts in 2026.
“Each of these molecules is a first-in-class medicine. So, we are advancing new drug mechanisms to change the course of cardiovascular diseases in ways that are not achieved with today’s medicines,” Cardurion CEO Peter Lawrence told GEN Edge.
PDE9 inhibition represents a novel mechanism for activating the natriuretic peptide (NP)-cGMP signaling pathway in the heart—the pathway targeted by the current standard of care for patients with heart failure, Novartis’ Entresto® (sacubitril/valsartan). Entresto is a blockbuster drug, generating $1.879 billion in the first quarter, up 34% from Q1 2023.
Though a few biopharma giants have tried but failed to successfully develop PDE9 inhibitors—candidates from both Bayer and Pfizer, for example, failed in Phase II studies—those efforts were aimed at treating the tough-to-drug Alzheimer’s disease and other neuro diseases.
“The effect of enhancing cGMP pathway activity in CNS diseases is still under exploration and has not yet been shown to confer clinical benefit. In contrast, increasing cGMP pathway activity in cardiac muscle has been demonstrated to provide outcomes benefits in heart failure,” Lawrence said.
Chronic heart failure impacts approximately 6.5 million Americans, with a mortality rate of 50% over five years. Cardurion has generated data both in preclinical studies, and more recently in the Phase IIa CARDINAL-HF proof-of-concept trial (NCT05409183), showing that PDE9 inhibition further activated the NP-cGMP pathway, increasing the presence of biomarker cGMP in patients both on and off Entresto—increasing the likelihood of further benefiting patients, Lawrence said.
Acquired from Imara
Cardurion acquired CRD-750 in 2022 from Imara, which had developed the drug under the names tovinontrine and IMR-687, until it failed two Phase IIb clinical trials assessing the drug in sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Imara—which merged last year with Enliven Therapeutics—sold the program to Cardurion for $34.75 million upfront, $10 million if Cardurion achieves proof of concept or other specified clinical milestones, and $50 million tied to achieving regulatory and/or commercial milestones.
CRD-750 is now under study in two Phase II trials comparing the drug to placebo in addition to standard-of-care guideline-directed therapies in a total of 640 patients with two types of heart failure. One such trial is evaluating CRD-750 in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF; NCT06215911); the other, in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF; NCT06215586).
“A successful study would position CRD-750 to become part of the standard treatment regimen for chronic heart failure, added to the currently approved mechanisms,” Lawrence said.
Cardurion’s other lead candidate, CRD-4730, is being assessed in a Phase II trial (NCT06005428) as a treatment of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), a rare lethal inherited arrhythmia for which no treatments have been approved to date.
“Beyond our CPVT program, we believe our CaMKII inhibitor programs have the potential to treat other major cardiovascular diseases where CaMKII is implicated in disease pathogenesis, and this funding will allow us to expand our CaMKII research efforts,” Lawrence said.
Cardurion is not the first company to develop a CaMKII inhibitor, though Lawrence noted that to his knowledge, Gilead Sciences and Allosteros had not been successful at advancing specific CaMKII inhibitors into clinical development.
Perhaps the best-known drug to show CaMKII inhibition is ruxolitinib, marketed in the United States as Jakafi® by Incyte and outside the United States as Jakavi® by Novartis. But the CaMKII inhibition it has shown has been weak and the blockbuster drug is best known as a selective inhibitor of JAK1 and JAK2 indicated for forms of myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and graft-versus-host disease.
“Ruxolitinib is thus not specific for CaMKII and high dose levels would likely be required to inhibit CaMKII in humans,” Lawrence cautioned. “The dose may be important, as JAK inhibitors have been shown to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, infections, and bone marrow suppression.”
Use of proceeds
Cardurion said it would use proceeds from the financing to fund later-stage clinical trials with CRD-750 and CRD-4730; expand the cardiovascular indications for Cardurion’s portfolio of drug candidates; progress internal discovery programs; and acquire additional therapeutic assets targeting unmet needs in cardiovascular disease.
“At the same time, we will use a portion of the funding to continue to build our internal pipeline, which includes a TRPC6 inhibitor in preclinical studies, as well as to continue to actively seek additional targets we may in-license or acquire for our cardiovascular portfolio,” Lawrence said. “The search and evaluation activities have been part of Cardurion’s corporate DNA since our founding, yielding assets we in-licensed that have strengthened the lead drug programs we have today.”
Ascenta Capital led Cardurion’s Series B financing, with participation by new investors NEA, GV (founded as Google Ventures), Fidelity Management & Research Co., Millennium Management, Farallon Capital Management, Invus, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Delos Capital, and Digitalis Ventures—plus existing investors Bain Capital Life Sciences and Bain Capital Private Equity.
In connecting with the latest financing, Cardurion has appointed three people to its board: Evan Rachlin, MD, co-founder and managing partner of Ascenta Capital, Dan Lynch, executive venture partner with GV; and Edward Mathers, a partner on NEA’s healthcare team focused on biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals investments.
The Series B brings to over $500 million the total funding Cardurion has raised since it was founded in 2017. That includes an up-to-$300 million Series A round from Bain in 2021, pre-Series A funding from Polaris Partners, and financing from Takeda in August 2017.
Cardurion’s current workforce consists of about 65 employees—50 based in the United States and the other 15 at an R&D facility in Shonan, Japan. The Japan location dates back to Cardurion’s founding in 2017 involving a transaction with Takeda.
“We continue to expand our team to support our growing clinical footprint and pipeline,” Lawrence added.
