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Optherion
Focuses on Immune System Pathway to Treat Age-Related
Macular Degeneration
CURE/Yale
BioHaven Series Draws Scientists, Managers, VCs
Optherion, Inc. is an
early-stage biotechnology company that is developing
diagnostic and disease-modifying products for the management
and treatment of dry and wet Age-Related Macular
Degeneration (AMD) and other chronic diseases involving the
alternative complement pathway of the complement system. Dry
AMD is the leading cause of
blindness in people over 60 in the developed world. There
are 15-20 million people with AMD
in the U.S. and more than 50 million worldwide.
The complement system is a biochemical cascade that
helps clear pathogens from an organism. It is part of the
larger immune system. Over 20 proteins and protein fragments
make up the complement system, including serum proteins,
serosal proteins, and cell membrane receptors. Three
biochemical pathways activate the complement system, among
them the so-called alternative complement pathway. When not
functioning properly, the complement system has the
potential to be extremely damaging to host tissues. The
genes for the complement system proteins factor H (CFH) and
factor B (CFB) have been determined to be strongly
associated with a person's risk for developing macular
degeneration.
Presenting the early history and scientific underpinnings of
Optherion March 19 in New Haven were Colin
Foster, president and CEO, and Amanda Hayward, Ph.D.,
senior vice president of Scheer & Company, the
Branford-based venture capital firm that led the early
organization and capitalization of the company. The seminar,
part of the BioHaven entrepreneurship series presented by
CURE and Yale OCR, was introduced by Frank Marco, partner,
of series sponsor Wiggin and Dana.
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Colin
Foster, president and CEO of Optherion |
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Dr.
Amanda Hayward, SVP of Scheer & Company
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The company’s intellectual property
estate is based on discoveries at the University of Iowa by
Dr. Gregory Hageman and at Yale University and Rockefeller
University by Dr. Josephine Hoh as well as work by
investigators at other universities. Scientific discoveries
published in 2005 link Complement Factor H (CFH) and
Complement Factor B (CFB) – both regulators of the
alternative complement pathway – to AMD.
Genetic variations on Chromosome 10 have also been
implicated in AMD, and are another
focus of the company’s product development. (Optherion
announced last October that it has licensed from the
University of Pittsburgh the worldwide rights to develop
diagnostic products for AMD
associated with specific variations in genes on Chromosome
10).
Optherion’s Chief
Scientific Officer is Dr. Hageman, the scientific founder of
Optherion and a co-discoverer of the relationship of the
genetics of CFH and CFB
to AMD and MPGN-II.
He is the Iowa Entrepreneurial Endowed Professor in the
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the
University of Iowa and a pioneer in the role of inflammation
and the complement system in AMD.
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Paul
Pescatello, president and CEO of CURE, talks
with Frank Marco, partner, Wiggin and Dana.
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Other members of the senior
management team are Marlene Modi, Ph.D., former Senior
Director at Eyetech and Hoffmann-La Roche, who is Vice
President, Preclinical Development; Manju Patel, M.D.,
former Senior Director and Development Leader for Retina
Strategy at Pfizer Inc., who is the Chief Medical Officer;
and Haren Vasavada, Ph.D., former Director in the Department
of Research Technologies at Bayer, who is Vice President,
Process Sciences. Optherion is located in New Haven, CT and
on the biotechnology campus of the University of Iowa in
Coralville, IA.
Optherion was
founded by Scheer & Company, Dr. Hageman, and Sandy
Gordon, M.D., an ophthalmologist with extensive ophthalmic
and venture capital experience. Scheer & Company was
responsible for managing Optherion’s operations in the
formative stage. Scheer & Company was also involved in
the founding of ViroPharma, OraPharma (now a unit of Johnson
& Johnson), Esperion Therapeutics (now a unit of Pfizer
Global Research & Development Division), Achillion
Pharmaceuticals, Sopherion Therapeutics, Aegerion
Pharmaceuticals, and Tengion.
Optherion
announced last October that it had raised $37 million in
start-up financing. Among the sources of capital for the
financing are: Quaker BioVentures, Philadelphia; Domain
Associates, Princeton, NJ and San Diego; Johnson &
Johnson Development Corporation, New Brunswick, NJ; Purdue
Pharmaceutical Products L.P., Stamford, CT; Pappas Ventures,
Research Triangle Park, NC; Biogen Idec New Ventures,
Cambridge, MA, and GE Healthcare Financial Services,
Chicago, IL.
The presentations were followed by
an hour of cocktails and networking.
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Networking
after Optherion's presentation
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Sponsored by Wiggin and Dana, Price WaterhouseCoopers, and
Elm Street Ventures, and presented by CURE and the Yale
Office of Cooperative Research, the BioHaven series
continues with a special panel presentation April 16
featuring Roger Longman of Windhover publications, William
Burkhoth of Pfizer Venture Investments, and David
Scheer of Scheer & Company, as well as Yale faculty
members Professor Richard Flavell and Professor Haifan
Lin. Download
a brochure of the complete 2007-2008 series here. |
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