Redx Pharma, a UK drug developer working on treatments for intestinal fibrosis, has secured $36 million in Series A funding as part of a complex financial maneuver designed to take the company public through a reverse merger with a U.S.-listed shell.
Abingworth led the round, with substantial backing from the British Business Bank's patient capital division and continued support from Redmile, already a major shareholder. The financing closed in late August, according to regulatory filings, and is earmarked to push Redx's lead compound, RXC008, into Phase 2 clinical trials starting in the fourth quarter of 2026 for a severe complication of Crohn's disease.
The British Business Bank put up $20 million of the total, a notable commitment for the government-backed investment vehicle. Andrew Sinclair, a managing director at Abingworth, took a board seat as part of the deal. MTS Health Partners advised on the placement.
But the Series A is only one strand of a much larger financing web. Redx has stitched together a $125 million package—comprising the $36 million Series A, a $68 million PIPE investment, and up to $22 million from an equity line of credit—linked to a reverse-merger agreement with Skye Bioscience, a small Nasdaq-listed company. Under the terms announced in mid-August, the combined entity would rebrand as Fibrx Therapeutics and trade publicly by year's end, assuming shareholders and courts sign off.
That broader package layers in the $68 million PIPE investment set to close when the merger does, plus the additional $22 million available through an equity line of credit arranged with an affiliate of Redmile. When the dust settles, earlier Redx shareholders are expected to hold roughly 46% of the new company, while the various financing participants would control close to 48%, based on pro forma estimates filed with regulators.
Redx is betting on RXC008, an oral drug designed to block ROCK enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract without spilling into the bloodstream. Earlier attempts to inhibit ROCK systemically ran into cardiovascular trouble, so the company's approach restricts the drug's activity to the gut. Early safety data looked promising, Redx says, and the FDA granted Fast Track status earlier this year for fibrostenotic Crohn's disease.
It's a condition that sneaks up on patients. More than half of people with Crohn's may develop significant scarring or narrowing in their intestines within a decade, according to figures Redx cited in its filings. Right now, surgery is often the only real option, and the added healthcare costs can top $80,000 per patient annually compared to Crohn's cases without fibrosis. Redx aims to start a Phase 2 trial in the fourth quarter of 2026, with topline results expected sometime in mid-2028.
The company operates out of Alderley Park in Cheshire, a sprawling life sciences campus that once served as an AstraZeneca research hub. Redx delisted from London's AIM market and re-registered as a private company in May 2024, a move that gave it more flexibility but also less visibility. CEO Lisa Anson, who previously ran AstraZeneca's UK operations, has been steering the company through a period of restructuring and refocusing around its anti-fibrotic pipeline.
Redx has another ROCK inhibitor in its stable, zelasudil, which targets lung fibrosis. That program completed an early Phase 2 study in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and had been under a partial FDA clinical hold until January, when regulators lifted the restriction. The company also inked a collaboration with Jazz Pharmaceuticals in early 2024, a KRAS inhibitor deal that brought in $10 million upfront and could eventually be worth up to $870 million if all milestones hit.
Financially, Redx reported £18.6 million in cash at the end of its 2024 fiscal year, before these new infusions. The combined company, once formed, is expected to have a runway extending into 2029.
The board reshuffle that accompanied the financing brought in Bernard Coulie, a gastroenterologist who leads Pliant Therapeutics, as an independent director. Jeremy Green of Redmile remains chairman, and Natalie Berner, also from Redmile, stays on as an investor director. Claire Catherinet of Sofinnova stepped down.
"We are thrilled to have completed this Series A financing and to welcome new investors including Abingworth and British Business Bank as shareholders," Anson said in a statement released with the filing.
Charlotte Lawrence, who oversees direct equity investments at the British Business Bank, called Redx "an example of the pioneering science emerging from North West England," a region that has been trying to rebuild its biotech credentials after the AstraZeneca pullback years ago.
Whether the merger and public listing proceed smoothly remains to be seen. Reverse mergers can be efficient paths to the public markets, but they also carry execution risk and sometimes draw skeptical scrutiny from investors who prefer traditional IPOs. For now, Redx has its financing lined up and a clear clinical milestone ahead. The harder test will be whether RXC008 actually works in patients.
