Ollin Biosciences emerged from stealth Wednesday with $100 million in Series A financing and an ambitious plan to challenge some of the world's best-selling ophthalmology medicines through next-generation bispecific antibody platforms.
The startup, co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Mubadala Capital, and Monograph Capital, is positioning itself to compete directly with established treatments including Roche's Vabysmo for retinal diseases and Amgen's Tepezza for thyroid eye disease.
Lead Program Targets Retinal Disease Market
Ollin's most advanced candidate, OLN324, represents a direct challenge to Vabysmo, which gained FDA approval in 2022 and has rapidly captured market share from Regeneron's blockbuster Eylea. The bispecific antibody targets both VEGF and Ang2 proteins involved in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME) progression.
"We see how quickly physicians switched from say, Lucentis to Eylea back in the day, and from Eylea to Vabysmo now," said CEO Jason Ehrlich. "So therapies that offer further improvement in treatment outcomes and disease control for patients are really desired by the market and physicians."
The company claims OLN324's design enables higher potency and longer-lasting effects compared to Vabysmo. Ollin has completed enrollment of over 150 patients in the JADE study, a randomized Phase 1b trial directly comparing OLN324 to Vabysmo at higher molar doses for greater target coverage and potential extended treatment durability.
Charles C. Wykoff, chairman of research at Retina Consultants of America, noted that "Ollin's Phase 1b study explores the potential for differentiation of OLN324 versus faricimab from the outset, indicating a strategy to leverage validated biologies and clear regulatory pathways to accelerate therapeutic development."
Topline results from the head-to-head comparison are expected in the first quarter of 2026. An earlier Phase 1 dose-escalation study of OLN324 in DME conducted in China demonstrated "promising vision and anatomic improvements along with a favorable safety profile," according to the company.
Thyroid Eye Disease Program Enters Development
Ollin's second major program, OLN102, targets thyroid eye disease through a novel dual-mechanism approach. Unlike Tepezza, which solely inhibits IGF-1R, OLN102 simultaneously blocks both IGF-1R and TSHR receptors associated with disease progression.
Ehrlich suggested that impacting both targets simultaneously may provide "synergistic benefits" and minimize known side effects associated with Tepezza. The company also hopes to demonstrate subcutaneous administration capability, potentially offering a more convenient delivery method compared to Tepezza's infusion requirement.
Licensed from Shanghai-based VelaVigo earlier this year, OLN102 is expected to enter clinical development in 2026 as a first-in-class TSHR/IGF-1R bispecific antibody for both thyroid eye disease and the underlying autoimmune condition of Graves' disease.
Asset-Centric Development Strategy
Rather than conducting in-house research, Ollin is building its pipeline through strategic partnerships and licensing deals. The lead program OLN324 is being developed in collaboration with Shanghai-based Innovent Biologics, while OLN102 was acquired from VelaVigo.
"There are relatively few of those types of company builds in ophthalmology," Ehrlich explained. "It seemed like there was an opportunity to put something like that together."
The company has assembled what it describes as a "world-class team with proven success in end-to-end ophthalmic drug development and commercialization," integrating scientific insights with commercial market understanding and advanced ophthalmic image analysis tools.
Ehrlich characterized Ollin as "a purpose-built, asset-centric biotech with core expertise in ophthalmology drug development, bringing together a strong focus on operational execution, market-informed clinical development strategies, and cutting-edge data science and imaging tools."
