OMEICOS adds REMIGES Ventures as new investor and announces the incorporation of U.S. subsidiary OMEICOS Ophthalmics, Inc.
OMEICOS Therapeutics, a Berlin-based biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, today announced that it has secured an extension of its recently closed Series B financing round. The financing by US-based REMIGES Ventures will help to expand the development of OMEICOS’ technology into the field of ophthalmological disorders. The company’s novel technology is based on stable synthetic small molecules which mimic natural highly bioactive lipid mediators derived from omega-3 fatty acids. REMIGES Ventures joins the existing investor consortium including Vesalius Biocapital II S.A. SICAR, a SMS Group company, VC Fonds Technologie Berlin, Hightech Gründerfonds II GmbH & Co. KG (HTGF) and KfW Group. Financial details of the additional investment were not disclosed.
In conjunction with the Series B financing round extension, OMEICOS establishes an US-based subsidiary, OMEICOS Ophthalmics, in Cambridge Massachusetts. The financing allows OMEICOS to expand its proprietary technology into a new field and to test pre-clinically a range of compounds and different routes of administration for different types of eye diseases, like age-related macular degeneration.
“The fact that omega-3 fatty acids play a crucial role in the health and disease of the brain including the retina, and the fact that the improved drug-like properties of our compounds bypass limitations of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation – that’s driving our excitement about this new development opportunity,” said Robert Fischer, Dr. med., CSO and co-founder of OMEICOS. “Our expansion into a new indication and being part of Boston’s vibrant biotech community will provide additional benefits for our Berlin-based startup in terms of expertise, diversity and future patient population.”
Taro Inaba, Founder and Managing Partner at Remiges Ventures will join the Board at OMEICOS. He brings over 25 years of business development and venture investment experience at Remiges Ventures and Mitsui Ventures, a Japan and US based global investment company.
Taro Inaba commented: “We are very pleased to have joined the OMEICOS’ Series B financing round, which allows the company to expand its technology into the new area. We have a strong belief, based on the recent scientific discoveries, that the OMEICOS’ unique technology opens the door to a new era of treatment in ophthalmology. The entire Remiges team is excited to actively participate in the effort of building the firm’s new operation in the United States.”
About OMEICOS
OMEICOS Therapeutics is a spin-off company from the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin. The company has discovered a series of metabolically robust synthetic analogues of omega-3 fatty acid-derived epoxyeicosanoids that have the potential to treat inflammatory, cardiovascular and other diseases. Epoxyeicosanoids, as a newly described class of bioactive lipid mediators, activate cell type-specific endogenous pathways that promote organ and tissue protection. OMEICOS’ small molecules are orally available and show improved biological activity and pharmacokinetic properties compared to their natural counterparts. OMEICOS’ technology is based on ground-breaking scientific results in the field of omega-3 fatty acid metabolism and physiology obtained by the companies’ founders, Dr. Wolf-Hagen Schunck, Prof. John. R. Falck, Prof. Dominik Müller and Dr. Robert Fischer. The companies’ research activities are supported by a grant from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). www.omeicos.com
Contact
OMEICOS Therapeutics GmbH
Dr. Robert Fischer, Chief Scientific Officer and Managing Director
Phone: +49 (0) 30 9489 4810
E-Mail: r.fischer@omeicos.com
www.omeicos.com
Media requests
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Mario Brkulj or Dr. Jacob Verghese
Main: +49 89 2424 3494 or +49 175 501 0575
E-Mail: mbrkulj@macbiocom.com
