Ponte Vedra Beach based Cadrenal Therapeutics is in the process of developing a drug called Tecarfarin, which has been designed as an anti-blood clot medicine to help patients with end-stage renal disease and atrial fibrillation.
According to Quang Pham, CEO of Cadrenal Therapeutics, there is a need for the drug because kidney failure patients who also have atrial fibrillation have an increased risk of suffering a stroke.
The goal of Tecarfarin is to limit that risk for patients with those combined factors, and the drug has been through various trials already and has received “fast track” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for review.
“We’ve been through 11 trials at this point, so we think we’re getting close and down to our last trial,” Pham said. “We have a team of deeply experienced and world-class experts working on it. We’re very proud of how far we’ve come.”
His hope is to advance the drug into the next human trial by the first part of next year.
Part of the process of getting the drug to the marketplace has included Cadrenal going public with the company’s common stock beginning trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on Jan. 20.
“Going public is a means to help pay for the trial, it’s not the end,” Pham said. “The end is to get Tecarfarin through trials to the FDA so that it can start helping people who need it.”
As the country is in the middle of a period of inflation, several aspects of the economy continue to be affected, but Pham states that this cannot be allowed to affect needed growth.
“When things are slow in an economy like this, it is important that research keeps going, because patients don’t stop getting sick,” Pham said. “We don’t distract from the mission of developing a drug that could help millions of people around the world.”
Having public investors has been a transition of sorts, but one that Pham believes will play an important role in the future of the company and its plans moving forward.
“You have to be very transparent to the public investors, but there is far more upside that comes with it,” Pham said. “We were the first biotech company to go public in this area.”
Although the Northeast Florida area is not known as a traditional biotech hub, such as San Francisco or Boston, there are still plenty of reasons why Pham believes it works for a company in that industry.
“We believe the advantage of this area is that it is truly a healthcare hub,” Pham said. “You’ve got all these healthcare options with Baptist, Flagler, the Mayo Clinic and even a satellite UF campus all nearby.”
Pham is also involved in helping inspire the next generation of scientists and pharmacists as the chair of Ponte Vedra High School’s biotech academy for the next two years.
