Xeltis to receive €15 million in its first Asian deal

The Swiss-Dutch startup developed aXess, a first-of-its-kind restorative cardiovascular access graft for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) requiring hemodialysis. The aXess graft enables early puncturing, or the initiation of dialysis, working like some of the currently available ePTFE synthetic hemodialysis access grafts. In addition, it is designed to turn into a patient’s own living blood vessel, like an arteriovenous fistula. Once implanted, its biocompatible, porous micro-structure gets naturally colonized by the patient’s own tissue, which over time takes over functionality before the original device absorbs in the body. This process is called endogenous tissue restoration (ETR).

China has the largest number of CKD patients globally, accounting for about 130 million people, of which around 580,000 are currently on hemodialysis. The number of people on hemodialysis in China is projected to increase by 15 percent in the next five years.

A new deal with the Grand Pharma Pharmaceutical Group Ltd will give Chinese patients access to aXess. The agreement, which represents Xeltis’ first commercial deal and its first funding from an Asian company, also involves other new products in the field of hemodialysis developed under the same technology platform. Grand Pharma will have exclusive rights of development, production and commercialization, and pre-emptive negotiation rights for Xeltis’ products developed in other indications in the Greater China region.

“Grand Pharma’s commitment to invest in Xeltis brings global validation of aXess’ commercial potential from one of the largest Chinese life sciences companies, from the country with the largest need of hemodialysis access globally,” said Eliane Schutte, Xeltis CEO. “It confirms the strength of our technology platform and clinical evidence to date, and supports our goal of providing potentially more durable, transformative restorative devices for patients worldwide.”

(Press release/RAN)