With a Goal to Develop Safe and Novel Therapies for
Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases

About Ocera | Company

Ocera Therapeutics Inc. founded in January 2005, is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for gastrointestinal and liver diseases.

Our initial product candidate, AST-120, is an oral adsorbent marketed in Japan to treat patients with chronic kidney disease.  The product is in pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials in the North America, Europe, and Israel for the treatment of fistulizing Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease that afflicts more than 500,000 people in the U.S. It is estimated there there are more than 4 million patients affected by inflammatory bowel disease in the world. Fistulae complicate Crohn’s disease in up to 30% of patients.  Clinical trials in Japan have also shown the potential of AST-120 to treat this condition.  In addition, Ocera has initiated four Phase 2 Proof of Concept trials in Pouchitis, Hepatic Encephalopathy, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and PPI-resistant GERD. The safety profile for AST-120 is well established, based on its administration to more than 200,000 patients to date.

Ocera’s goal is to develop safe and novel therapies that address significant unmet medical needs in the treatment of gastrointestinal and liver diseases. Ocera has assembled an executive management team with broad experience in developing and launching pharmaceutical products at both large and emerging growth companies. The company is organized to provide high efficiency in clinical development, regulatory affairs and licensing, with the goal of building a strong product pipeline, and developing compounds for accelerated commercialization of much-needed products for debilitating diseases.

History

Ocera was founded in January 2005 by Dr. Eckard Weber and Dr. Laurent Fischer and is headquartered in San Diego, California, Ocera has raised $62 million in venture financing to date from premier investors.