Company: OCEA
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-003155
Chunk: 3358

Company: Ocean Biomedical, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 3358
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ase 1, or Chit1, is a key driver of fibrosis. Fibrosis is observed in an estimated
50% of all diseases. Fibrosis in the lungs tends to be progressive and can reduce their function. In animal models of idiopathic pulmonary
fibrosis, or IPF, and Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, or HPS, inhibition of Chit1 showed statistically significant reduced levels of fibrotic
markers. We are developing a small molecule product candidate targeting Chit1 for the treatment of IPF, a debilitating lung disease affecting
approximately 160,000 people in the United States, and of HPS, an ultra-rare disease affecting approximately 1,800 in the United States.

In
infectious diseases we are developing therapeutic and vaccine candidates against malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that kills 500,000
children under the age of five globally each year, that infects 200-300 million people annually worldwide, and for which 3.4 billion
people worldwide are at risk. Our product candidates in malaria are based on the discovery by Jonathan Kurtis, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Director of the M.D./Ph.D. Program at Brown University, of two novel malaria antigens, PfSEA-1
and PfGARP (as defined below). In non-human primate models of malaria, vaccination with PfGARP resulted in an 11.5-fold reduction of
parasites in blood compared to controls. In in-vitro models, our therapeutic antibody candidate against PfGARP reduced parasite count
by 99% compared to controls. We have three product candidates based on these new antigens: (1) a malaria vaccine candidate against PfSEA-1
and/or against PfGARP; (2) a humanized mAb malaria product candidate against PfGARP; and (3) a small molecule malaria product candidate,
also against PfGARP.

Importantly,
Dr. Kurtis’ antigen discoveries described above were enabled by his development of our Whole Proteome Differential Screening target
discovery platform (the “WPDS” platform). We believe the WPDS platform may enable us to discover new targets for other infectious
diseases in the future. The WPDS platform leverages the fact that the immune system, when exposed to an infectious disease such as malaria,
will often naturally produce a wide array of antibodies to try fighting the infection. Only a small subset of these antibodies may