Charlottesville startup KeViRx Inc. is developing new drugs that target inflammation for people with acute lung injuries. The company received a $2 million grant from the Department of Defense for further research to grow from animal testing to preparing for an investigational new drug meeting with the Food and Drug Administration. KeViRx’s goal is to begin phase I of human trials in early 2027.
Currently, people with breathing ailments are prescribed steroids and mechanical ventilation. “There are no approved drugs for acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome, which is the most severe form of acute lung injury,” CEO Elizabeth Sharlow said.
“The DOD grant is allowing us to scale up from a preclinical company to a translational company so we can get into the clinical phase,” she added. Chief Scientific Officer John Lazo said there’s a belief the DOD’s interest is related to how the company’s compound might help soldiers heal when they are exposed to toxic substances.
Unlike other acute lung injury remedies that target a virus’ antibodies, KeViRx’s drug is host-directed and heals the cells within a person’s body. Their small molecule compound has shown promise helping heal multiple causes of lung injury, including Covid-19, flu, air pollution, bacterial infections, sepsis, pneumonia, damage from vaping and chemical warfare.
KeViRx hopes to be in Phase II clinical trials in five years. Although it has some preclinical data demonstrating efficacy in cancer models, KeViRx is working on healing the lung right now. When Covid-19 hit, the company delved deeper into pulmonary research.
“We’re focusing on ALI because of the unmet medical need and pathway to market,” Sharlow said.
KeViRx is the culmination of decades of drug discovery and development research between the co-founders. The company is pre-revenue and actively fundraising. Currently a team of five, they are discussing adding another board member.
“We are actively recruiting additional clinically trained individuals who are in respiratory health and can guide us in the right direction as we proceed with the FDA,” Lazo said.
Their plan is to get the compound to a certain phase in development and then partner with big pharma, which has the infrastructure to accelerate the development, Sharlow said.
A spinoff technology from the University of Virginia, KeViRx’s compound was developed with the help of John Catravas, a professor at Old Dominion University.
“We’ve been working to stimulate the ecosystem in the commonwealth through an organization called the Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium that involves Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason and other institutions to make Virginia as competitive as Boston or California for bringing companies here and helping them grow,” Lazo said.
“We’re interested in getting the academic community more involved with startups and big pharma. Our first meeting was in Richmond. The commonwealth has been very supportive,” he adds.
KeViRx is one of 10 startups selected for Activation Capital’s Frontier BioHealth program. Companies were selected based on growth potential, leadership, technological fit and investor readiness.
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