Oyster Point Pharma announced the close of a Series A financing worth $22M.
Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals announced the close of a Series A financing worth $22 million. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates and Versant Ventures.
Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals currently has essentially one employee, president and chief executive officer Jeffrey Nau, although he indicates he plans to begin hiring as soon as possible, up to 10 staffers. Nau was formerly with Ophthotech and Genentech. The company’s chairman is Michael Ackermannn, former president and chief executive of Oculeve, and the chief financial officer is Mark Murray, previously chief financial officer at Oculeve, OptiMedica Corp. and Clarvista Medical.
The company is working on therapies for dry eye and other diseases of the ocular surface. The funds will be used to progress several products through Phase II clinical trials.
“Currently marketed products and epidemiological studies have demonstrated the very large market potential for therapies to treat ocular surface diseases, but available prescription and over-the-counter therapeutics leave significant unmet need,” Nau said in a statement. “We are very pleased with Oyster Point’s clinical trial data to date, and there has been major interest from both doctors and patients to have our first-in-class products available.”
Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals has largely been in stealth mode, and this disclosure only pushes the company partly out of the shadows. John Carroll, with Endpoints News, writes, “Nau, who left Ophthotech as it was in the process of striking out in three Phase III studies for their lead drug, will now start assembling a small team of less than 10 for what’s ahead. And while things have to remain hush-hush for now on just what the company plans to put into Phase II—there’s no reason to tip off potential rivals at this point—the first mid-stage trial is set to launch in a looming Q1 of 2018.”
To Carroll, Nau does suggest that dry eye is the initial focus, with the plan to produce natural tears to fix the problem. A lot of companies focus on the symptoms of the various chronic and/or inflammatory processes that cause dry eye. Carroll writes, “They want to own that big niche. And Nau has a pair of the best known venture groups in the industry to back him up as they lay the foundation for end of Phase II meetings with the FDA while mapping plans for Phase III.”
“We believe Oyster Point’s products have the potential to substantially improve on existing therapies and provide significant benefit to patients,” said Clare Ozawa, managing director at Versant, in a statement. “We’re pleased to join with NEA to bring this company to a significant value inflection point.”
Nau also told Carroll that the company has an impressive scientific board. Everyone will just have to take his word for it, however, because, like details concerning its pipeline and near-term plans, Nau is keeping it confidential. More information is likely to come as it gets its Phase II plans underway within the next two to five months.
