Targeted generic

Investors in Heart Metabolics Ltd.'s $20 million series A round think the company can use genetic testing to avoid the toxicities that have dogged perhexiline, a generic it is repurposing for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The small molecule inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (CPT1) and CPT2 was originally approved in the 1960s in the U.K. and EU to treat angina, but had limited use - and later was withdrawn - due to idiosyncratic nerve and liver toxicities...