Less than a year after landing a big funding round, Crystalys Therapeutics has banked a second one, announcing Wednesday a $130 million Series B to support global late-stage tests, and launch preparations, for a gout drug it’s been working on.
Launched last September with a $205 million Series A, Crystalys received support in its newest financing from more than 20 firms, many of which are the kind of “crossover” investors that back private as well as publicly traded companies. Frazier Life Sciences led the round, and firms like Wellington Management, Cormorant Asset Management, SR One and Novo Holdings pitched in.
Crystalys views its drug, “dotinurad,” as a potential “best-in-class” treatment for gout, a type of arthritis caused by a buildup of uric acid in the body. While a therapy called allopurinol has long been the treatment standard for gout — which causes sudden flares of joint pain — it doesn’t work for many people and the options behind it are flawed. Amgen’s Krystexxa comes with a high cost and requires twice-weekly infusions. Another treatment, known as febuxostat, is linked with potential heart problems.
Dotinurad represents a different potential solution. Originally discovered by Japanese drugmaker Fuji Yakuhin, it’s is designed to inhibit a transporter protein called URAT1 that regulates uric acid levels. Dotinurad was approved in Japan in 2020 and, since then, has been cleared in China — where Eisai owns rights — as well as the Philippines and Thailand.
Crystalys acquired U.S. and European rights to the treatment from a subsidiary of Fortress Bio in 2024. It’s since ushered the therapy into two global trials in people with severe gout cases or excess uric acid. Both are evaluating dotinurad against allipurinol over the course of 24 weeks, and should deliver results next year.
The company has also started a Phase 2 trial in people who either can’t tolerate allopurinol or similar drugs, or haven’t responded to therapies like Krystexxa.
“This financing strengthens our ability to advance our [trials] and positions Crystalys to achieve multiple important clinical and regulatory milestones and commercial readiness as we work to bring a potentially best-in-class treatment option to patients living with gout,” said Crystalys CEO James Mackay, in a statement.
Crystalys is betting that dotinurad is a clear improvement over an old AstraZeneca drug called Zurampic, which also inhibited URAT1. Zurampic gained approval in 2015 but was associated with kidney damage and later withdrawn because of low sales. In an interview with BioPharma Dive last year, Mackay noted that dotinurad binds to its target more precisely and could better protect the kidneys.
Because dotinurad is an established drug, Crystalys was able to persuade the Food and Drug Administration to allow it to go straight into late-stage development without amassing the usual early safety and efficacy data.
