Otonomy, Inc. Appoints David A. Weber, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Otonomy, Inc. announced today that David A. Weber, Ph.D., has joined the company as president, CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Jay Lichter, Ph.D., managing director of Avalon Ventures, co-founder of Otonomy and CEO since its inception, will continue to actively support the company as a member of the Board of Directors.

"We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Weber to the Otonomy team, as his extensive experience in the development of locally delivered therapeutics is highly transferrable to our focus on local treatments for disorders of the inner and middle ear," said Jay Lichter, Ph.D., managing director of Avalon Ventures and co-founder of Otonomy. "His excellent credibility in the venture capital community and proven success in strategic partnering will be essential skills in leading Otonomy forward following our successful recent Series B financing."

Dr. Weber has spent over 20 years in the life sciences field and, for the last decade, has led companies developing locally delivered therapeutics. Dr. Weber is currently an independent director of On Demand Therapeutics, Inc., where he provides guidance on business development, financing and product development strategy. He was the founding CEO of MacuSight, a venture-backed start-up focused on local treatments for ocular disorders. There he successfully built the team, completed a strategic transaction that generated $50 million in upfront payments and advanced the development program through decisive clinical studies in several areas. Prior to that, Dr. Weber was acting CEO of Oculex Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company through its successful acquisition by Allergan. As executive vice president, research and development at Oculex, Dr. Weber was responsible for the advancement of a sustained release steroid for treatment of persistent macular edema, including diabetic macular edema, through Phase 2 clinical studies. This product has since received both U.S. and European regulatory approvals and been launched by Allergan as Ozurdex®. Dr. Weber received his Ph.D. from the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, and his master's and bachelor's degrees in biological sciences from Wichita State University.

"This is a very exciting time to be joining Otonomy, as the company has just completed enrollment of Meniere's Disease patients in the Phase 1b clinical trial of our lead product, OTO-104," said Dr. Weber. "Otonomy is moving aggressively to complete IND enabling activities for our second product, OTO-201, and the proceeds from our recently completed Series B financing provide us with the resources to advance a third program into clinical development. I look forward to working with the existing team, scientific advisors, clinical investigators and investors to bring new treatments to patients in this underserved field."

Founded in 2008 by Avalon Ventures and internationally recognized experts in the otology field, Otonomy raised $10 million in a Series A financing provided by Avalon. A recent $38.5 million Series B financing co-led by Novo Ventures and RiverVest Venture Partners, and joined by TPG Biotech, Domain Associates and Avalon, brought the total amount of venture capital raised by Otonomy to $48.5 million.

About Otonomy, Inc.

Otonomy is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel drug therapies for disorders of the inner and middle ear. Otonomy's core technology is a sustained release formulation developed for optimal delivery of drugs from a single intratympanic (IT) injection. Broad applicability of this delivery and formulation technology has already been established across a number of therapeutic classes, and two products have been advanced into active development. The company's lead product candidate, OTO-104, is a sustained release formulation of the steroid dexamethasone. A Phase 1b clinical trial is ongoing in Meniere's disease patients, and future studies are being planned for acute onset hearing loss. Otonomy's second product, OTO-201, is a sustained release antibiotic being developed for the treatment of otitis media patients undergoing surgery for the placement of tympanostomy tubes. OTO-201 clinical trials are expected to begin in 2011. Other product candidates will target acute and chronic forms of hearing loss, balance disorders, and tinnitus.

For more information visit: www.otonomy.com.

SOURCE Otonomy, Inc.