Ophthotech Corporation is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company located in Princeton, NJ and New York, NY.
Our experience and expertise with back of the eye diseases enables us to concentrate on developing and commercializing therapies for both dry and wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) in an accelerated manner.
5 Vaughn Drive Suite 106
Princeton, NJ 08540
Phone (609) 945-6050
Fax (609) 452-7435
One Penn Plaza
35th Floor
New York, NY 10119
Phone (212) 845-8200
Fax (212) 845-8250
SV Life Sciences was started in London as Schroder Ventures Life Sciences in 1993 as part of the Schroder Ventures Group. The company’s first fund closed in 1994 raising $100m. SV Life Sciences now has four funds with current committed capital of more than $900m. Its team of 29 professionals are located in offices in Boston, London and San Francisco. SV Life Sciences became independent of the Schroder Ventures Group in 2001, and in January 2005 changed its name to SV Life Sciences to reflect independent ownership.
SV Life Sciences provides finance to businesses at all stages of development and across the human life sciences sector. These sectors range from biotechnology & pharmaceuticals to medical devices & instruments, to healthcare information technology and services. SV Life Sciences currently advises or manages five funds with capital commitments of approximately $1.6 billion which primarily invest amounts of between $1m and $20m in North America and Europe, but will consider innovative investments in other regions. Our team of 28 professionals has a diverse, complimentary set of skills and experience that allow us to tailor a team to work with almost any life sciences business.
Clarus Ventures is a life sciences venture capital firm founded by a team of accomplished investment professionals with extensive and complementary industry backgrounds that have enabled them to establish a long history of success in creating value. Their deep relationships with world thought leaders and key decision makers allow this team to identify unique investment opportunities and shepherd them to maturity. Clarus augments its core expertise of investing in biopharmaceuticals and medical technology companies with the deep and diverse expertise of the team in research and development, commercialization, business development and operations management at the global level.
The firm is led by Managing Directors Nicholas Galakatos, Dennis Henner, Jeffrey Leiden, Robert Liptak, Nicholas Simon, Michael Steinmetz and Kurt Wheeler. The team includes Partner Emmett Cunningham, Transactional Partner Scott Requadt Principals Finny Kuruvilla and Michele Park, and Senior Advisor Edward Scolnick.
Clarus is presently managing $1.2 billion and is committing $20-$60 million per company. The firm invests globally out of its offices in Cambridge, MA and San Francisco, CA.
HBM Partners AG, founded in 2001, is one of the world’s leading investment advisory groups in the sectors of biotechnology, emerging pharma and medical technology. The group invests globally in private, as well as public companies. The HBM team of professionals has extensive experience in drug and medical device development and international operations. Currently, HBM Partners AG manages and advises several investment entities with assets of over US$1 billion. Out of HBM’s private equity portfolio 23 companies have gone public and 8 companies were sold to strategic buyers.
Novo A/S is the holding company of the Novo Group, and is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S was established in 1999 to manage the assets of the Foundation and actively make investments on behalf of the Foundation.
The Novo Ventures team consists of six Partners in Copenhagen, one in London and two in San Francisco. With an evergreen structure, Novo A/S annually invests approximately $80-100 million in venture capital into private life sciences companies, and thus acts at a pace comparable to a traditional $350-400 million fund.
In total Novo A/S has more than $ 10 billion under management, which includes significant shareholdings in the independently operating and publicly listed companies Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S.
Princeton, NJ and New York, NY- November 10, 2008 – Ophthotech Corp., announced today the treatment of its first patient with Volociximab, a monoclonal antibody targeting α5β1 integrin, in a Phase I trial for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Ophthotech is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing ophthalmic therapies for both wet and dry AMD. Volociximab represents Ophthotech's third compound in clinical development. This Phase I trial will assess the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of Volociximab.
"There is strong scientific rationale for α5β1 integrin antagonism to interrupt the cell survival signals in neovascular tissue and associated inflammation in eyes afflicted with AMD. Ophthotech's monoclonal antibody, Volociximab, holds great promise as a potential breakthrough therapy for the wet and dry forms of AMD," said Scott W. Cousins, MD, the Robert Machemer, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology at Duke University, and the director of the Duke Center for Macular Diseases at the Duke Eye Center.
"Initiating clinical development of Volociximab, our third compound, is an important milestone, as it demonstrates our commitment to developing and commercializing therapies for both wet and dry AMD in an accelerated manner," said Samir Patel, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ophthotech.
This trial involves the company's third compound in clinical development to date. Recently, Ophthotech enrolled its first patient in a Phase I complement inhibition trial for age-related macular degeneration with its anti-C5 complement factor aptamer, ARC1905, in combination with an anti-VEGF agent. In February 2008, the company initiated a Phase I trial with E10030, an anti-PDGF aptamer, also in combination with an anti-VEGF agent, for the treatment of agerelated macular degeneration. A dry AMD trial with ARC1905 is scheduled to commence in 2009.
Volociximab is a monoclonal antibody targeting α5β1 integrin, a key protein involved in the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). α5β1 integrin is a critical survival factor for proliferating endothelial cells involved in angiogenesis. Volociximab blocks the binding of α5β1 to fibronectin, thereby disrupting a variety of processes involved in neovascularization. Inhibition of α5β1 integrin has demonstrated potent anti-angiogenic effects in multiple preclinical models of angiogenesis. Unlike current therapies such as ranibizumab and bevacizumab, Volociximab inhibits endothelial cell proliferation downstream of growth factor stimulation, irrespective of the upstream proangiogenic stimulating factors. In January 2008, Ophthotech licensed worldwide development and commercial rights to all ophthalmic uses of Volociximab from Biogen Idec and PDL.
AMD is the leading cause of blindness for people over the age of 50 in the United States and Europe. The role of abnormal neovascularization, or angiogenesis, in the pathogenesis of neovascular AMD has been well established. There are two forms of the disease, namely "dry" and "wet" AMD. The "wet" form is characterized by the growth of new blood vessels into the central region of the retina. These new vessels cause severe visual loss due to retinal damage caused by subsequent leakage and scar formation. Anti-VEGF therapies and photodynamic therapies have been approved for "wet" AMD. "Dry" AMD accounts for up to 90 percent of all cases of AMD. There is no approved therapy for "dry" AMD, which afflicts 8 million patients in the United States and an additional 8 million in Europe. Visual loss in "dry" AMD is typically not as severe as "wet" AMD, however, over time, "dry" AMD can progress to the wet form of the disease.
Ophthotech Corp. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for back-of-the-eye diseases. Ophthotech plans to develop a pipeline of compounds with strong scientific foundations for the treatment of AMD and bring them to market in an accelerated manner. In August of 2007, Ophthotech announced a Series A venture financing and two separate in-licensing deals with Archemix Corp. and (OSI) Eyetech. A third inlicense from Biogen Idec and PDL BioPharma was announced in January of 2008. Ophthotech's venture investors include SV Life Sciences, HBM BioVentures and Novo A/S.
Princeton, NJ and New York, NY- October 27, 2008 – Ophthotech Corp. ("Ophthotech"), a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing ophthalmic therapies for back-of-the-eye diseases, announced today the enrollment of its first patient in a complement inhibition trial for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This Phase I trial will assess the safety and tolerability of ARC1905, an anti-C5 complement factor aptamer, in combination with an anti-VEGF agent.
Dr. Donald J. D'Amico, Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and a member of Ophthotech's Scientific Advisory Board, said, "Multiple lines of evidence now point to a fundamental problem with inflammation and complement activation in patients with high susceptibility to develop AMD. Intervention in the complement pathway is the single most promising target for new therapeutic and preventive strategies for AMD."
"Preclinical and human genetic linkage studies strongly support the significant role of complement-mediated inflammation in both dry and wet AMD," said Samir Patel, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Ophthotech. "We believe that anti-C5 aptamer blockade represents a potential breakthrough therapy for both wet and dry forms of AMD."
Published studies in Science, the New England Journal of Medicine and other leading journals suggest that abnormalities involving the complement pathway may be responsible for the majority of cases of dry and wet forms of AMD in the western world.
ARC1905 represents one of three compounds that Ophthotech is developing to treat AMD. Additional molecular entities include E10030, an anti-PDGF aptamer currently in a Phase I study, and volociximab, an anti-angiogenic monoclonal antibody targeting the α5β1 integrin, which is on track to commence clinical trials in the near future.
Anti-C5 aptamer ARC1905 inhibits C5, a central component of the complement cascade, which plays multiple roles in innate immunity and inflammatory diseases. Inhibition of this key step in the complement cascade at the level of C5 prevents the formation of key terminal fragments (C5a and C5b-9) regardless of which pathway (alternate, classical or lectin) induced their generation. The C5a fragment is an important inflammatory activator inducing vascular permeability, recruitment and activation of phagocytes. C5b-9 is involved in the formation of membrane attack complex (MAC: C5b-9), which initiates cell lysis. By inhibiting these C5- mediated inflammatory and MAC activities, therapeutic benefit may be achieved in both dry and wet AMD. In August 2007, Ophthotech licensed worldwide rights to all ophthalmic uses of Archemix's proprietary aptamers (ARC186 and ARC1905) targeting the C5 component of the complement cascade.
E10030, currently being investigated in a Phase I trial, is an aptamer-based compound directed against PDGF-B. Pharmacology studies indicate that E10030 binds to PDGF-B with high specificity and affinity and inhibits the functions of PDGF-B both in vitro and in vivo. In preclinical studies, E10030 demonstrated the potential to regress neovascularization when used in combination with a VEGF-A inhibitor. In experiments involving models of ocular vascularization, concurrent inhibition of PDGF-B and VEGF-A signaling was superior to inhibition of the VEGF-A pathway alone.
Volociximab is a monoclonal antibody targeting α5β1 integrin, a key protein involved in the formation of new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. α5β1 integrin is a critical survival factor for proliferating endothelial cells involved in angiogenesis. Inhibition of α5β1 integrin has demonstrated potent anti-angiogenic effects in multiple pre-clinical models of angiogenesis.
AMD is the leading cause of blindness for people over the age of 50 in the United States and Europe. There are two forms of the disease, namely "dry" and "wet" AMD. The "wet" form is characterized by the growth of new blood vessels into the central region of the retina. These new vessels cause severe visual loss due to retinal damage caused by subsequent leakage and scar formation. Anti-VEGF therapies and photodynamic therapies have been approved for "wet" AMD. "Dry" AMD accounts for up to 90 percent of all cases of AMD. There is no approved therapy for "dry" AMD, which afflicts 8 million patients in the United States and an additional 8 million in Europe. Visual loss in "dry" AMD is typically not as severe as "wet" AMD, however, over time, "dry" AMD can progress to the wet form of the disease.
Ophthotech Corp. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for back-of-the-eye diseases. Ophthotech plans to develop a pipeline of compounds with strong scientific foundations for the treatment of AMD and bring them to market in an accelerated manner. In August of 2007, Ophthotech announced a Series A venture financing and two separate in-licensing deals with Archemix Corp. and Eyetech, Inc., which recently spun out of (OSI) Eyetech. A third in-license from Biogen Idec and PDL BioPharma was announced in January of 2008. Ophthotech's venture investors include SV Life Sciences, HBM BioVentures and Novo A/S.
Princeton, NJ – February 12, 2008 – Ophthotech Corp. ("Ophthotech"), a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing ophthalmic therapies for back-of-the-eye diseases, today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in its Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The Phase I trial will assess the safety and tolerability of E10030, an anti-PDGF aptamer, in combination with an anti-VEGF agent. This trial will enroll up to a maximum of 36 patients.
"The current treatment regimen for angiogenesis in AMD does not result in neovascular regression. The combination of anti-PDGF and anti-VEGF agents has been shown to cause neovascular regression, in both ocular and tumor angiogenesis preclinical models. We believe E10030 holds great promise for enhancing the visual outcome for patients with AMD," said Samir Patel, M.D., President and CEO of Ophthotech Corp.
E10030 is the first of three compounds that Ophthotech Corp. is developing to treat AMD. Additional molecular entities include ARC1905, a complement (anti-C5) inhibitor, and volociximab, an anti-angiogenesis monoclonal antibody targeting α5β1 integrin.
E10030, is an aptamer-based compound directed against PDGF-B. Pharmacology studies indicate that E10030 binds to PDGF-B with high specificity and affinity and inhibits the functions of PDGF-B both in vitro and in vivo. In preclinical studies, E10030 demonstrated the potential to regress neovascularization when used in combination with a VEGF-A inhibitor. In experiments involving models of ocular vascularization, concurrent inhibition of PDGF-B and VEGF-A signaling was superior to inhibition of the VEGF-A pathway alone.
Anti-C5 aptamer ARC1905 inhibits C5, a central component of the complement cascade, which plays multiple roles in innate immunity and inflammatory diseases. Inhibition of this key step in the complement cascade at the level of C5 prevents the formation of key terminal fragments (C5a and C5b-9) regardless of which pathway (alternate, classical or lectin) induced their generation. The C5a fragment is an important inflammatory activator inducing vascular permeability, recruitment and activation of phagocytes. C5b-9 is involved in the formation of membrane attack complex (MAC: C5b-9) which initiates cells lysis. By inhibiting these C5-mediated inflammatory and MAC activities, therapeutic benefit may be achieved in both dry and wet AMD.
Volociximab is a monoclonal antibody targeting α5β1 integrin, a key protein involved in the formation of new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. α5β1 integrin is a critical survival factor for proliferating endothelial cells involved in angiogenesis. Inhibition of α5β1 integrin has demonstrated potent anti-angiogenic effects in multiple pre-clinical models of angiogenesis.
AMD is the leading cause of blindness for people over the age of 50 in the United States and Europe. There are two forms of the disease, namely "dry" and "wet" AMD. The "wet" form is characterized by the growth of new blood vessels into the central region of the retina. These new vessels cause severe visual loss due to retinal damage caused by subsequent leakage and scar formation. Anti-VEGF therapies and photodynamic therapies have been approved for "wet" AMD. "Dry" AMD accounts for up to 90 percent of all cases of AMD. There is no approved therapy for "dry" AMD, which afflicts 8 million patients in the United States and an additional 8 million in Europe. Visual loss in "dry" AMD is typically not as severe as "wet" AMD, however, over time, dry AMD can progress to the wet form of the disease.
Ophthotech Corp. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for back-of-the-eye diseases. Ophthotech plans to develop a pipeline of compounds with strong scientific foundations for the treatment of AMD and bring them to market in an accelerated manner. In August of 2007, Ophthotech announced a $36 million Series A venture financing and two separate in-licensing deals with Archemix Corp and (OSI) Eyetech, Inc. A third in-license from Biogen Idec and PDL BioPharma was announced in January of 2008. Ophthotech's venture investors include SV Life Sciences, HBM BioVentures and Novo A/S.