Ochre Bio
Ochre Bio are developing therapies for the biggest liver health challenges, from increasing donor liver supply to reducing cirrhosis complications. With liver disease on the rise they hope to provide alternative treatments and improve clinical care.
Chronic liver disease is the only top ten global killer on the rise. In 2019, chronic liver disease was the cause of over 297,000 deaths in Europe, 3% of all deaths in the region. Liver stress is at the heart of several cardiometabolic diseases, and can increase risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes. Without effective therapies, the only resort for many patients remains a liver transplant. However the supply of healthy donor organs cannot meet demand, and minorities are disproportionately disadvantaged.
Ochre Bio is working to improve the viability of donor livers. Their solution reprogrammes the liver and tests RNA therapies on those that are discarded due to fatty liver disease. Donor livers can be kept alive outside the body for multiple days, allowing Ochre Bio to conduct extensive testing in the search for a wider set of treatments. They have uncovered hundreds of novel potential liver targets that are currently being validated in their labs.
Founders
Jack O’Meara
CEO
Jack is a biomedical engineer by training, with a background in bringing new technologies to market. He holds a first class degree from the University of Galway and a masters from Notre Dame in Engineering & Science. He helped to see one of the first blockbuster gene therapies through FDA approval and onto commercial launch.
Quin Wills
CTO
Quin is an MD, with further degrees in genetics, mathematics, and computational biology, and a doctorate in systems genomics, from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He previously founded his first liver drug genomics company, co-steered Oxford University’s single-cell genomics consortium, and most recently founded the Cellular and Systems Genomics department for the leading metabolic biopharma.
Milestones
Founded at Entrepreneur First
Seed ($9.6 million) led by Khosla Ventures
Series A ($30 million) led by a syndicate including include Khosla Ventures, Hermes-Epitek, Backed VC, LifeForce Capital, Selvedge, AixThera & LifeLink