C4XD

C4X Discovery Holdings (C4XD) is a drug discovery and development company that uses proprietary and synergistic software platforms to identify potential drug targets and develop new therapies for immune-inflammatory diseases. The company leverages  candidate molecule design and patient stratification capabilities to develop small molecule drug candidates. 

The company has three software platforms: 1) Conformetrix, which enables drug design using experimental data instead of theoretical data, 2) 4Sight, which is being developed as a specialized visualizer for 4D molecular data obtained from Conformetrix, and 3) PatientSeek , (launched in February 2023) which identifies  patients that are most likely to respond positively to a medication based on their genetic profile. 

Furthermore, the company, as of August 2023, had five in-house programmes in its pipeline targeting the α4β7 inhibitor for immune-inflammatory diseases. The company also had three partnered programmes in the pipeline: 

1) C4X_3256, (partnered with Indivior) targeting the orexin-1 receptor antagonist to treat opioid dependence, which was in Phase I clinical trials, 

2) an oral interleukin-17 inhibitor (partnered with Sanofi) to treat inflammation and autoimmune diseases, which was in preclinical stage, and 

3) an oral NRF2 activator (partnered with AstraZeneca) to treat inflammatory diseases, which was in preclinical stage. 

Key customers and partnerships

The company has several key partners for drug development including Sanofi (since April 2021), AstraZeneca (since November 2022) and Indivior (since March 2018). Furthermore, the company has collaborations with HitGen (October 2022), PhoreMost (June 2019), E-Therapeutics (December 2018), Horizon discovery (December 2018), and other companies to improve and expand its portfolio. 

Funding and financials

The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in October 2014 under the ticker symbol “C4XD”. In September 2016, the company raised GBP 5 million (USD 6.2 million) in a post-equity IPO round by issuing 4.9 million shares at GBP 0.102 per share. The funds raised were used toward advancing its pipeline to clinical trials. 

For the six months ended 31 January 2023, the company’s revenue improved 17x YoY to GBP 1.7 million and its net losses dropped 13% to GBP 5.2 million.