David GuyerVirtually 30 years in the past, when David Guyer and Anthony Adamis have been nonetheless medical college professors — at New York College and Harvard, respectively — the duo started working collectively on methods to forestall imaginative and prescient loss by blocking the formation of blood vessels within the eye. Their work finally culminated within the first ever intraocular anti-VEGF injection, accredited by the FDA in 2004 for moist age-related macular degeneration.
They bought their firm, Eyetech Prescribed drugs, and the drug for $650 million the following 12 months, and went on to separate paths — though nonetheless within the ophthalmology area.
Till final August, that was.
Anthony AdamisGuyer, who had left one other biotech he co-founded and rejoined SV Well being Traders as a enterprise accomplice, regrouped with Adamis to take one other shot at growing remedies for eye ailments.
Having supplied seed funding and helped workers the workforce, SV is now main a $65 million Collection A for the plainly named EyeBio (SV was additionally one of many founders and earliest backers of Eyetech).
Jeito Capital and Samsara Capital are the opposite key gamers from the syndicate, with MRL Ventures including to the pool.
Whereas particulars are sparse, it seems that EyeBio’s preliminary focus will probably be on licensing or buying exterior packages to assemble a pipeline that guarantees to “shield, restore, and enhance imaginative and prescient for people who find themselves underserved by accessible eye illness therapies.”
Medical trials will then be primarily carried out within the UK, although the biotech has presence in each London and New York.
“Success requires a capability to execute and ship new therapies with pace and high quality. EyeBio has the expertise, skillset, and willingness to introduce new options to deal with acquainted issues,” mentioned Adamis, who was accountable for a variety of candidates as SVP of improvement innovation at Roche’s Genentech, together with the lately accredited Vabysmo (faricimab).
Adamis is chairing the advisory board whereas Guyer takes up the president and CEO position.
As their earlier expertise confirmed, although, efficiently growing a drug is totally different from discovering a marketplace for it. Macugen (pegaptanib), the breakthrough drug Guyer and Adamis developed, noticed its gross sales wither after Genentech and Pfizer introduced rival remedies to sufferers. Six years after Eyetech obtained acquired for $650 million, it was resold for a meager $22 million.
However this time round two execs will probably be flanked by others who could also be extra aware of the commercialization course of, together with COO Sarah Milsom, a former guide who most lately labored at Touchlight Genetics; CMO Jonathan Prenner, a retinal specialist at Rutgers; SVP of medical improvement Divya Chadha Manek, who led enterprise improvement and advertising and marketing for the UK’s Nationwide Institute of Well being Analysis; Paul Stephens, SVP of chemistry, manufacturing and controls, who jumps from UCB; and Sam Good, VP of finance, hailing from Artios.
Jeito’s Andreas Wallnoefer (who labored alongside Guyer on Roche’s R&D exec workforce), Samsara managing normal accomplice Srinivas Akkaraju and SV managing accomplice Mike Ross are on the board of administrators, which is chaired by SV managing accomplice Kate Bingham.
