Organizations Filed Purposes:
THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS RETINAL DEGENERATION FUND'S MISSION IS TO ACCELERATE THE TRANSLATION OF RETINAL LABORATORY-BASED RESEARCH INTO CLINICAL TRIALS TO EXPEDITE THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF PATIENT THERAPIES.
DURING FISCAL 2020, THE FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS RETINAL DEGENERATION FUND (FFB-RDF) SUPPORTED THE FOLLOWING 7 NEW AND ONGOING INVESTMENTS WITH RESPECTIVE COMMITTED CAPITAL: 1) SPARING VISION ($8.65M, 2) NACUITY PHARMACEUTICALS (NACUITY: $7.5M), 3) PROQR ($7.5M), 4) NAYAN THERAPEUTICS (NAYAN: $1M), AND 5) VEDERE BIO (VEDERE: $3M), ATSENA THERAPEUTICS (ATSENA: $3M) STARGAZER PHARMACEUTICALS (STARGAZER: $.25M). SPARING VISION, A PORTION OF NACUITY, NAYAN, VEDERE, ATSENA, AND STARGAZER ARE EQUITY INVESTMENTS WITH CAPITAL RESERVES TO INVEST IN FUTURE FINANCING ROUNDS TO HELP MAINTAIN A HEALTHY OWNERSHIP POSITION. EACH OF THESE COMPANIES HAVE LATE PHASE PRECLINICAL RESEARCH AND/OR CLINICAL TRIAL PROGRAMS FOR ADVANCING PROMISING RETINAL DEGENERATIVE THERAPIES. FUNDING IS PRIMARILY TO SUPPORT PHASE ONE AND PHASE TWO PROOF OF CONCEPT CLINICAL TRIALS, WHICH ARE HISTORICALLY CHALLENGING TO FUND, BUT PLAY A VITAL ROLE TO MAKE THEM MORE ATTRACTIVE FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO VENTURE CAPITAL, BIOTECH AND PHARMA COMPANIES. FISCAL 2020 SUMMARY:FFB-RDF INVESTED AN ADDITIONAL $3.75M IN SPARING VISION AND CONTINUES TO TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE FOR ADVANCING THE GENE THERAPY PROGRAM AT SPARING VISION. SPARING VISION IS A BIOTECH COMPANY INCORPORATED IN FRANCE THAT SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT OF A PROMISING NEUROPROTECTIVE GENE THERAPY FOR MULTIPLE TYPES OF RETINAL DEGENERATIVE DISEASE THROUGH LATE PRECLINICAL STUDIES AND A PHASE ONE/TWO CLINICAL TRIAL. FFB-RDF INVESTED $2.25M IN COMMITTED CAPITAL TO PROQR FOR ACHIEVING CERTAIN PRECLINICAL AND CLINICAL MILESTONES TO ADVANCE A RETINAL GENETIC THERAPY FOR PEOPLE WITH USHER SYNDROME TYPE 2A (USH2A) AND RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA CAUSED BY MUTATIONS IN EXON 13 OF THE GENE THAT CAUSES USH2A. FFB-RDF WILL BE INVESTING THE REMAINDER OF COMMITTED FUNDS OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS TO ADVANCE THIS CLINICAL PROGRAM KNOWN AS QR-421A THAT IS CURRENTLY ENROLLING USH2A PATIENTS. FFB-RDF ALSO INVESTED $2.1M IN COMMITTED CAPITAL TO VEDERE BIO. THESE PROCEEDS ARE DEDICATED TO ACHIEVING CERTAIN PRECLINICAL MILESTONES TO ADVANCE GENE-AGNOSTIC THERAPEUTIC CANDIDATES FOR RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA.
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Russell W Kelly | VP, INVESTMENTS & ALLIANCES | 40 | $210,344 |
| Benjamin R Yerxa | CEO/PRES (EX-OFFICIO) | 6 | $74,365 |
| Jason D Menzo | COO | 1 | $0 |
| Jonathan Steinberg Md | EX OFFICIO DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Jacque Duncan Md | EX OFFICIO DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Jason Morris | DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Kelly Lisbakken | DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Adrienne Graves Phd | DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Eugene De Juan Md | DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
| Warren Thaler | CHAIRMAN | 1 | $0 |
| David Brint | EX OFFICIO DIRECTOR | 1 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202013149349303396_public.xml