ONL Therapeutics, an Ann Arbor, MI-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing treatments of geographic atrophy associated with dry age-related macular degeneration, raised $65M in Series D funding.
The round was led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation with participation from Bios Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, and Visionary Ventures, amongst others.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its development efforts to further advance its differentiated clinical program in geographic atrophy (GA) associated with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Led by David Esposito, chief executive officer, and David Zacks, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer, ONL Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing therapeutics to protect and improve the vision of patients with retinal disease. The firm is focused on the mechanism of action (MOA) preventing Fas-mediated death of retinal cells and inflammatory signaling pathways, the root causes of vision loss and blindness. In a Phase 1b clinical trial of ONL1204 Ophthalmic Solution in patients with GA associated with dry AMD, patients treated with ONL1204 showed reductions in the rate of growth of the GA lesion with either a single injection or two injections (90 days apart) after 6 months of treatment compared to sham patients. A consistent treatment effect was seen when comparing treated eyes versus fellow eyes.
