24 September 2020 - - US-based biotechnology company Rediscovery Life Sciences, LLC, has closed aseries B financing co-led by REX Health Ventures (the investment arm of UNC REX Healthcare) and Orlando Health Ventures, the company said.

RLS will use the proceeds to fund a Phase 2 trial of suramin in diuretic resistant Acute Kidney Injury. Anita Watkins, JD, director of REX Health Ventures, and Dr. Sunil Desai, president of the Orlando Health Medical Group, have joined RLS's board of directors.

RLS is focused on rapid and cost-effective development of new treatments by identifying and repurposing existing drugs with strong safety profiles.

The company is developing suramin for the treatment of diuretic resistant AKI and will be initiating a Phase 2 clinical trial early in 4Q20.

Numerous research and clinical studies have confirmed the safety of suramin, which is currently approved outside of the United States as a tropical disease treatment.

Animal studies show that suramin improves outcomes in AKI by blocking inflammation, blocking cell death and stimulating reparative processes.

Acute Kidney Injury is a common, serious and often life-threatening complication in hospitalized patients and involves a sudden loss of kidney function.

Common causes include trauma, ischemia/reperfusion injury, sepsis and exposure to nephrotoxic drugs. Incidence can be as high as 50% in intensive care units and dialysis is the only FDA only approved treatment.

The impacts of AKI are significant, including longer length of stay in the hospital and the development of short and long-term complications that lead to an excess mortality rate of up to 50%. RLS is targeting treatment of diuretic resistant AKI patients with suramin, 75% of whom progress to poor outcomes.

Rediscovery Life Sciences has executed an exclusive license with The Medical University of South Carolina to develop suramin in acute kidney injury.

First introduced in 1922 to treat African sleeping sickness, suramin has never been approved in the US Researchers at Dr. Rick Schnellman's laboratory at MUSC demonstrated, in a range of animal models, that suramin reduces neutrophil infiltration and other inflammatory cells, blocks apoptosis of renal tubular epithelium and stimulates reparative processes in injured kidneys.

Based on the impressive pre-clinical results and established safety profile in other patient populations, FDA has approved a Direct to Phase 2 clinical pathway for the treatment of diuretic resistent AKI.