Ophirex, Inc.

Ophirex, Inc. is a Corte Madera, California public benefit biotech company building the first genuinely new approach to snakebite in more than a century. Its lead candidate, varespladib, is a small-molecule inhibitor of sPLA2 - an enzyme found in roughly 95% of snake venoms - formulated for easy oral or injectable use so treatment can begin in minutes, in the field, rather than hours later at a distant hospital. Founded by expedition physician Matthew Lewin, the company targets a neglected killer that claims roughly 100,000 lives a year, aiming at both human and veterinary markets across the developing world and defense applications.