Eye Company Formed

Acuity Pharmaceuticals and Froptix have agreed to merge with eXegenics, a publicly traded company with no current active operations, to form a new firm, Opko, listed on the American Stock Exchange. Acuity and Froptix both have drug discovery efforts in eye disease. Acuity has two drugs in development: bevasiranib, in Phase II trials for wet macular degeneration, and a product in Phase I trials for conjunctivitis. Froptix has a range of small molecules in preclinical studies. Opko has received a $12 million credit line from the Frost Group to help fund a Phase III trial of bevasiranib.