Opthea Announces Financing Deals for OPT-302 in Wet AMD
Opthea announced two financing deals aimed at advancing OPT-302, a drug candidate for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Opthea announced a nondilutive financing transaction for up to $170 million from investment funds working with Launch Therapeutics to finance and advance the ongoing phase 3 clinical trials and pre-commercialization activities of OPT-302 for AMD. Launch Tx is the recently formed development company backed by funds managed by global investment firm Carlyle and its life sciences franchise, Abingworth.
Under the terms of the agreement, the funds managed by Carlyle and Abingworth, in collaboration with Launch Tx, will commit $120 million in three installments at fixed time points and retain an option to commit another $50 million, representing total funding of up to $170 million for Opthea. If OPT-302 is approved in a major market, Opthea will make a milestone payment after regulatory approval and then six subsequent annual fixed success payments and variable success payments of 7% of net sales, with cumulative payments capped at four times the amount funded to Opthea. Opthea retains full worldwide commercial rights for OPT-302 and has the option to prepay its obligations in full at any time.
"Opthea is thrilled to enter this strategic arrangement with Launch Tx, and to receive funding from world-leading investors in Carlyle and Abingworth. This strategic transaction is expected to fund us through phase 3 topline data expected in mid-2024 and strengthens our strategic position to maximize the value of OPT-302,” Dr. Megan Baldwin, Chief Executive Officer at Opthea, said in a company news release. “This transaction with Launch Tx is non-dilutive for shareholders of Opthea, and we are proud to have been selected as Launch Tx’s first partner since its formation.”
Opthea also announced that it successfully closed $90 million in equity financing.
The two-tranche placement of new fully paid ordinary shares were issued to institutional investors to raise approximately $90 million1 (A$128.57 million) at a price of A$1.15 per new share, which represents a 12.6% discount to the 10-day Volume-Weighted Average Price as of August 10, 2022.
“This well supported placement has seen a high level of demand from existing and new institutional investors, including large global and US-based funds. We appreciate the strong support from our current shareholders and are delighted to be welcoming several leading new institutional investors to the register,” Dr. Megan Baldwin, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Opthea, said in the news release. “This successful equity raising in conjunction with the large non-dilutive financing from funds managed by Carlyle and Abingworth, in collaboration with Launch Tx, represents a tremendous achievement for Opthea. Together these financings further validate our strategy to develop OPT-302 as a differentiated therapeutic with the potential to improve patient outcomes in retinal diseases including wet age-related macular degeneration.”
OPT-302 is a first-in-class intravitreally administered biologic “trap” inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factors C (VEGF-C) and D (VEGF-D) currently being investigated in two concurrent Phase 3 pivotal registrational trials that will each enroll ~990 treatment naïve patients, in combination with two approved anti-VEGF-A treatments, ranibizumab (ShORe trial) and aflibercept (COAST trial). OPT-302 has the potential to be positioned as complementary and agnostic with any combined anti–VEGF-A therapy for the treatment of wet AMD, a strategy intended to maximize the commercial opportunity for the therapy.