SEATTLE, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ: OMER) today announced that the company was invited by the organizers of the 2014 Biennial Conference of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) to make an oral presentation on OMS824, the company's phosphodiesterase 10 (PDE10) inhibitor in development for the treatment of schizophrenia and Huntington's disease. OMS824 selectively inhibits PDE10, an enzyme expressed in areas of the brain linked to a wide range of diseases that affect cognition. The SIRS Conference will take place in Florence, Italy April 5-9. The Omeros presentation is entitled "Early Clinical Results of the Phosphodiesterase 10 Inhibitor OMS643762 in Development for the Treatment of Schizophrenia and Huntington's Disease" and is scheduled for Sunday April 6 during the pharmaceutical pipeline session. OMS643762 is the reference name for OMS824 in the company's clinical development program.
The presentation at the SIRS Conference will summarize Phase 1 and early Phase 2 data from Omeros' OMS824 clinical program. Steve Whitaker, M.D., Omeros' vice president of clinical development and chief medical officer, will make the presentation. SIRS was founded in 2005 and is dedicated to exchanging information about the latest advances in schizophrenia research among scientists, clinicians, drug developers, and policy makers internationally. The April 5-9 SIRS Conference in Florence is the fourth biennial conference and focuses on development of new drugs and the status of cutting edge research in the field of schizophrenia. The third biennial SIRS Conference held in 2012 was attended by over 1600 researchers from 53 countries.
About Omeros' PDE10 Program
PDE10 is an enzyme that is expressed in areas of the brain linked to diseases that affect cognition and psychomotor functions, including Huntington's disease and schizophrenia. Huntington's disease is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder that leads to movement, cognition, and behavioral abnormalities and premature death. Schizophrenia is a group of severe brain disorders characterized by an abnormal interpretation of reality, which can manifest as delusions, hallucinations, and/or disordered thinking and behavior. Cognitive dysfunction is responsible for substantial disability in both of these diseases and is not meaningfully improved by current medications. Omeros' proprietary compound OMS824, currently in Phase 2 clinical programs, inhibits PDE10 and is being developed for the treatment of cognitive disorders. In addition to potential benefits on cognition, OMS824 could also improve the motor and psychiatric abnormalities in Huntington's disease as well as the positive (e.g., hallucinations) and negative (e.g., flat affect) symptoms of schizophrenia. Omeros has been awarded Orphan Drug designation by the US FDA to evaluate OMS824 in Huntington's disease, and received Fast Track designation from the FDA for the development of OMS824 to treat cognitive impairment in Huntington's disease.
About Omeros Corporation
Omeros is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercializing small-molecule and protein therapeutics targeting inflammation, coagulopathies and disorders of the central nervous system. Derived from its proprietary PharmacoSurgery® platform, the Company's lead drug product, Omidria™ (OMS302) for lens replacement surgery, is currently under review for marketing approval by both the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency with US commercial launch planned for the second half of 2014. Omeros' six other clinical programs are focused on schizophrenia, Huntington's disease and cognitive impairment; addictive and compulsive disorders; complement-related diseases; and preventing problems associated with surgical procedures. Omeros also has a proprietary GPCR platform, which is making available an unprecedented number of new GPCR drug targets and corresponding compounds to the pharmaceutical industry for drug development.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections for such statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "look forward to", "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information available to management only as of the date of this press release. Omeros' actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including, without limitation, risks associated with Omeros' ability to obtain regulatory approval for its New Drug Application in the US and its Marketing Authorization Application in the EU for the commercialization of Omidria, Omeros' unproven preclinical and clinical development activities, regulatory oversight, product commercialization, intellectual property claims, competitive developments, litigation, and the risks, uncertainties and other factors described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 13, 2014. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and the company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
SOURCE Omeros Corporation
Jennifer Cook Williams, Cook Williams Communications, Inc., Investor and Media Relations, +1-360-668-3701, jennifer@cwcomm.org
