The resulting company will operate under the name Opus Genetics and the Nasdaq ticker symbol (IRD) RALEIGH, N.C. , Oct.
25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The RD Fund (Retinal Degeneration Fund) – the venture arm of the Foundation Fighting Blindness – announces the all-stock acquisition of Opus Genetics, Inc. "Opus" (private) by Ocuphire Pharma, Inc., (Nasdaq: OCUP ) a clinical-stage ophthalmic biopharmaceutical company.
The companies have combined under the name of Opus Genetics to create a transformative biotech company committed to being a leader in the development of gene therapies for the treatment of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). The combined company is trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "IRD." The RD Fund launched Opus in the fall of 2021 to develop gene therapies for the treatment of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs).
The RD Fund led the seed financing for Opus as the first internally conceived spinout of the Fund to further the Foundation's mission. With the full support of the Foundation's and Fund's Board of Directors, the company was co-founded and initially managed by Ben Yerxa , PhD, Rusty Kelley , PhD, Peter Ginsberg , and Jason Menzo along with its scientific founders, Jean Bennett , MD, PhD and Junwei Sun from the University of Pennsylvania and Eric Pierce , MD, PhD, from Harvard and Massachusetts Eye and Ear. "The initial seed funding allowed Opus to build a pipeline of early-stage preclinical assets, including advancing OPGx-LCA5 into a Phase 1/2 .