Funding & Collaboration
Reflecting the commitment of its founders, Ophirex gained momentum from the backing of family, friends, philanthropists, and other supporters of public health, along with significant contributions from scientific and medical experts.
Ophirex Is a Public Benefit Corporation
As a registered Delaware public benefit corporation, Ophirex pursues its business in a manner that advances our vision to deliver potentially life-saving medical treatments and also serves the financial interests of our shareholders.
Until recently, our shareholders were predominantly individual investors. These individuals invested in Ophirex in large part because of our commitment to address the medical need presented by snakebite — especially in under-resourced areas — as well as diseases and conditions with related mechanisms of illness and injury, to the extent we are capable.
In recognition of our development efforts, we have also won multiple grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and an award from the Wellcome Trust.
WHO Roadmap Aims to Reduce Envenoming Burden; Cites Varespladib
As population growth and climate change bring snake and human environments ever closer together, the threat of snake envenoming to humans and domestic animals is increasing. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the devastating harm inflicted by venomous snakes when it added envenoming to its list of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). Today, fatalities due to envenoming nearly surpass those of most other diseases on the NTD list combined.
The WHO’s 2019 roadmap for reducing the burden of envenoming encouraged development of new technologies. Ophirex’s varespladib answers that call and, in 2019, was specifically and affirmatively cited by the WHO Snakebite Envenoming Working Group as warranting accelerated development.
The roadmap’s success requires a relentless effort from all parts of the globe. We are grateful to the many individuals and organizations that have helped us in our progress.
