Ocuphire Pharma, Inc., a Farmington Hills, Mich.-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies to treat patients with a variety of ophthalmic disorders, closed on over $5m financing.
Investors included:
– RBI Opportunities Fund,
– Belle Capital Fund,
– Grand Angels Fund,
– First Capital Fund,
– Michigan Angel Fund,
– Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center,
– Ann Arbor Angels,
– Woodward Angels,
– Kalamazoo Angels,
– BlueWater Angels, and
– other individual and institutional investors.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate multiple clinical trials of its lead drug candidate, Nyxol®.
Led by Mina Sooch, Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Ocuphire is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialization of drugs to treat important ophthalmic disorders. The company’s lead drug candidate, preservative-free Nyxol Eye Drops, is being developed for multiple indications including night vision disturbances, glaucoma, reversal of mydriasis, and presbyopia.
Nyxol, a proprietary ophthalmic formulation of phentolamine mesylate, an approved alpha-1 and alpha-2 inhibitor, is a novel eye drop treatment for multiple front-of-the-eye disorders, including night vision disturbances (NVD), glaucoma, and reversal of mydriasis. The company is also exploring a fixed-dose combination of Nyxol for the treatment of presbyopia.
Nyxol was originally invented by Dr. Gerald Horn, an ophthalmologist and laser vision specialist in Chicago, who also invented the recently-approved redness reliever eye drop Lumify®. Since acquiring the Nyxol asset in 2018, Ocuphire has built out its management, Board, clinical and manufacturing partners, and medical advisory board with over ten world-class ophthalmic key opinion leaders (KOLs). Joining the founders and executive directors, Mina Sooch, MBA, and Alan Meyer, MBA, are three independent directors Sean Ainsworth, MBA, James Manuso, PhD/MBA, and Cam Gallagher, MBA, who have years of distinguished investing and operating accomplishments in biotech companies with notable exits including Retrosense and Astex.
FinSMEs
22/07/2019