April 29th, 2013, Dublin, Ireland – Opsona Therapeutics Limited (‘Opsona’), the innate immune drug development company, today announced that it has raised €33 million (US$43 million) in an oversubscribed Series C financing. The participants in this Series C financing include existing investors, Novartis Venture Fund, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Roche Venture Fund and Seroba Kernel Life Sciences. The new investors joining the consortium are BB Biotech Ventures, Sunstone Capital, Baxter Ventures, Amgen Ventures, and EMBL Ventures. BB Biotech Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund led the Series C financing round. BB Biotech Ventures, Sunstone Capital and Baxter Ventures will be joining the board of directors.
Opsona is developing new treatments for inflammatory diseases and will use the proceeds to conduct a two-part multi-centered, double blinded and placebo controlled clinical study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of its lead product OPN-305 in renal transplant patients at high risk of Delayed Graft Function (DGF). This is the first clinical indication for OPN-305, a fully human monoclonal IgG4 antibody targeting Toll-like-receptor-2 (TLR2). Opsona recently completed a successful Phase I clinical trial in healthy human volunteers and has also demonstrated activity in preclinical animal models and ex-vivo studies. This first-in-class inhibitor of TLR2 has the advantage of inhibiting multiple cytokines leading to the pathogenesis of the complex inflammatory response in various diseases (ischemia/reperfusion injuries, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, lupus, nephritis and various cancers) and has therefore a potentially broad application potential.
Dr. Martin Welschof, CEO of Opsona, commented: “The innate immune system represents a new frontier in targeting inflammatory diseases, and the quality of venture and corporate investors in this funding round is a demonstration of Opsona's expertise and capabilities in this highly promising field. With their repeat investment, our existing investors have clearly indicated their long-term commitment to Opsona, while the new investment from BB Biotech Ventures, Sunstone Capital, Baxter Ventures, Amgen Ventures and EMBL Ventures is a further endorsement of Opsona’s future potential.”
Dr. Martin Muenchbach, Managing Director at BB Biotech Ventures, added: “We are delighted to be working with Opsona Therapeutics and the other investors. We are excited to further advance Opsona’s lead product OPN-305 into a well-designed Phase II efficacy study to improve post-operative complications in renal transplantation, an indication with major unmet medical need and attractive commercial potential. This high-quality study with clinically meaningful endpoints will also be of relevance for a subsequent Phase III registration study.”
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For further information please contact:
Martin Welschof (CEO), telephone: + 35316770223, e-mail: mwelschof@opsona.com
About Opsona Therapeutics
Opsona is a leading immunology drug development company, focused on novel therapeutic approaches to key targets of the innate immune system associated with a wide range of major human diseases, including autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, transplant rejection, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and atherosclerosis. The company was founded in 2004 by three world-renowned immunologists at Trinity College in Dublin. Opsona's lead product, a fully human monoclonal IgG4 antibody (OPN-305) targeting Toll-like-receptor-2 (TLR2) has demonstrated activity in a number of animal models and was recently tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers. The company has initiated a two-part multi-centered, double blinded and placebo controlled clinical study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of OPN 305 in renal transplant patients at high risk of Delayed Graft Function (DGF) as the first clinical target indication for the development of OPN-305. The company was awarded a EUR 5.9 million non-dilutive grant by the European Union for clinical development of its anti-TLR2 antibody in solid organ transplantation including renal transplantation and the program has recently obtained EMA and FDA orphan drug status. Additional indications are currently being explored.
Further information is available at http://www.opsona.com/.