Osiris Therapeutics
Industry | Pharmaceuticals |
---|---|
Headquarters | Columbia, Maryland , United States |
Key people | Peter Friedli (Chairman) Greg Law (CFO) Frank Czworka (COO) Alla Danilkovitch (CSO) James Burns (Co-Founder) Dr. Arnold Caplan (Co-Founder) Kevin Kimberlin (Co-Founder) |
Products | Grafix, Stravix, Cartiform, BIO4, Osteocel, Prochymal |
Website | www![]() |
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in March 1993 following the identification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by Dr. Arnold Caplan and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio.[1] Dr. Caplan contributed a license to certain technology and joined Kevin Kimberlin, James S. Burns, a biotech venture capitalist, and Peter Friedli, as lead investor, to launch Osiris, named after the Egyptian god of fertility, resurrection, and the afterlife.[2] Early financing was provided by a number of entities, including Three Arch Bay Health Sciences Fund and Spencer Trask & Co.[1] By 1994, the state of Maryland provided a loan and equity investment to lure the company from Ohio in 1995.
A peer company, StemCells, emerged in 1995 in California with a focus on neural regeneration, but using stem cell technology emerging from the laboratory of Irving Weissman at Stanford University.[3]
The year 1997 saw the start of a multi-million dollar research and licensing arrangement with Novartis, which initially acquired 8% of the company. It dedicated 65 employees to develop stem cell treatments for bone and cartilage disorders, including underwriting the cost of clinical trials, an arrangement that lasted until at least 1999.[1][4] At the time, osteoporosis and arthritis were the top targets of Novartis research.[1] The only direct competitor of Osiris at the time was a unit of Novartis, Systemix, which focused on stem cell treatments for cancer. Systemix was outside the scope of the deal Osiris had struck with Novartis.[1] At the time, Osiris held also a majority stake in Gryphon, a blood stem cell technology exploitation firm spun out of Johns Hopkins Medical School.[1]
The company's first chief executive officer (CEO) was co-founder James Burns, who held the position from the company's inception through at least 1999.[1][4] The company's Chief Financial Officer around this time was Michael Demchuk Jr.[1]
In 2006, when the company had 84 employees, Jeffries and Lazard Capital market took Osiris public, on NASDAQ, offering up 13% of the company as shares and raising $38.5 million, with funds intended for research, product development, loan servicing and clinical trial expenses. C. Randall Mills was CEO. At the time of the IPO, Osiris was considered to be "the closest in (the United States) to bring a pure stem cell product to the market", with a marketed drug for bone regeneration called Osteocel. The company sold Osteocel to NuVasive in 2009 for an upfront payment of $35 million at closing, and an additional $50 million in milestone payments.[5]
In 2010, Osiris received the first regulatory clearance in the world for a systemically administered stem cell drug,[6] called Prochymal or remestemcel-L.[7] IIt was approved for pediatric Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD). In 2013, Osiris sold its MSC drug and associated patents to Mesoblast of Australia and the drug was renamed Ryoncil.[8] Osiris had spent more than two decades working on this product and the proceeds from this sale allowed the company to focus on a line of wound-healing projects.[9]
Osiris transitioned from product research to commercialization with the introduction of Osteocel, Graphix, Stravix, and Chondrogen. In 2016, CEO, Lode Debrabandere, resigned. He was succeeded by the company's chief business officer, Dwayne Montgomery, then David and then Linda Palczuk, formerly of AstraZeneca. In March 2017, shares of Osiris were temporarily delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange as the company failed to meet the exchange's requirements, including failure to file an annual report,[10] after being granted additional time for compliance.[11] The company was relisted on the NASDAQ in August 2018.[12][13]
In 2019, Osiris was acquired for $660 million by Smith & Nephew plc, a global medical technology business.[14][15] The company had $142 million in revenues for 2018 and 360 employees, all of whom were expected to remain with the firm, which would operate as a subsidiary to its parent.[15]
Ryoncil was tested in a March 2020 pilot study at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on late-stage, ventilator-assisted Covid-19 patients suffering Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.[16] Based on the results, the FDA approved a Phase 2/3 study on 300 patients at 30 sites around the U.S. The Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network, funded by the National Institutes of Health, and Mesoblast (the owner of the product) commenced that trial on May 5, 2020.[17]
Publications
Affiliation of all authors was with Osiris unless otherwise noted.
- Pittenger MF, Mackay AM, Beck SC, Jaiswal RK, Douglas R, Mosca JD, Moorman MA, Simonetti DW, Craig S, Marshak DR (2 April 1999). "Multilineage Potential of Adult Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells". Science. 284 (5411): 143–7. Bibcode:1999Sci...284..143P. doi:10.1126/science.284.5411.143. PMID 10102814.
- This article includes description of the adult stem cell harvesting method that provided Osiris a competitive advantage over other firms in being able to productively support clinical trials.[3]: 234
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Guidera, Mark (29 June 1997). "From cells arises Osiris". The Baltimore Sun. pp. D1, D2. Retrieved 15 August 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Second part of article: "Cell research led to Osiris Therapeutics" - ^ Bell, Julie (26 September 2002). "New CEO at Osiris toiling as clock ticks". The Baltimore Sun. pp. C1, C9 (not available). Retrieved 14 August 2002.
- ^ a b Hall, Stephen S. (2003). Merchants of Immortality. United States: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-09524-1. Retrieved 17 August 2022 – via Open Library.
- ^ a b Guidera, Mark (11 April 1999). "Maryland companies near regeneration of tissue, bone". The Baltimore Sun. pp. D1, D8. Retrieved 15 August 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Part 2 of article: "Maryland companies increase role in cell regeneration" - ^ "Osiris transfers Osteocel to NuVasive; UK biotech continues to suffer;". FierceBiotech. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ^ Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. Form S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2012, UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
- ^ Rattue, Petra (22 May 2012). "Prochymal - First Stem Cell Drug Approved". Medical News Today. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ Waltz, Emily (2013-12-01). "Mesoblast acquires Osiris' stem cell business". Nature Biotechnology. 31 (12): 1061. doi:10.1038/nbt1213-1061. ISSN 1546-1696. S2CID 32036070.
- ^ Dance, Scott (12 October 2013). "Osiris Therapeutics to sell stem-cell drug". The Baltimore Sun. p. 10. Retrieved 16 August 2022 – via Nwspapers.com.
- ^ Mirabella, Lorraine (23 March 2016). "Osiris Therapeutics receives Nasdaq notice". Business Maryland: Daily Briefing. The Baltimore Sun. p. 10. Retrieved 16 August 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Irum, Tayyeba (10 March 2017). "Nasdaq to delist Osiris Therapeutics". S&P Global Market Intelligence. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ https://www.osiris.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018-08-01-Osiris-Relisting-on-NASDAQ-FINAL.pdf [bare URL PDF][permanent dead link]
- ^ "Osiris Receives Notice Of Delisting From NASDAQ" (Press release). Osiris Therapeutics. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ "Smith & Nephew Completes Acquisition of Osiris Therapeutics, Inc" (Press release). Smith+Nephew. 17 April 2019.
- ^ a b Cohn, Meredith (19 April 2019). "Columbia biotech company's sale finalized". The Baltimore Sun. p. 10. Retrieved 16 August 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sheikh, Knvul; Thomas, Katie (8 April 2020). "More Coronavirus Vaccines and Treatments Move Toward Human Trials". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ Knapp, Alex (2 May 2020). "Clinical Trials Of Mesoblast's Stem Cell Treatment For COVID-19 Set To Begin Soon". Forbes. Retrieved 13 August 2020.