Portfolio

OccuRx Pty Ltd is a start-up company from the University of Melbourne that is developing new drugs that treat serious inflammatory and fibrotic diseases including those that cause blindness which occurs in some diabetics. Diabetic eye disease includes the development of diabetic retinopathy, cataract (clouding of the lens) and glaucoma (increased ocular fluid pressure leading to optic nerve damage), which can cause severe vision loss and blindness. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of new blindness in persons aged 25-74 in the United States, and approximately 700,000 persons in the US have proliferative diabetic retinopathy, with an annual incidence of 65,000. Current treatments cannot restore lost vision, and there is a need for new treatments that can control the disease. OccuRx’s lead compounds have been shown to be effective in animal models of fibrosis and diabetic eye disease, and the company has completed a Phase-1 clinical trial with its lead drug candidate. Preparations are now underway for a Phase-2 clinical program.