Category: Lindsay Rosenwald


OpusPoint Partners, LLC was founded in 2009 with a view to providing a platform for the merging of healthcare and life sciences by investing in innovative research companies that are sitting on the threshold of great medical breakthroughs that would improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, without compromising core values, ethics and integrity.

This company is one of a number of biotechnology companies founded over the years by the collaboration of Michael S. Weiss and Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald. These two men have taken their combined forty-year-long passion for the field of biotechnology and translated this energy into workable investments in the biotechnological and life sciences arenas.

OpusPoint Partners is presently revving up for an acceleration of innovations in healthcare and life sciences. With a vision to improve the world by solidifying the levels of healthcare and medicine, this industry leader continues to invest substantial amounts of time and money into carving a stronger and healthier living environment for all mankind. The goals set by OpusPoint Partners have been backed by its financial injection of funds into those research companies that will revolutionize how healthcare is being delivered worldwide, making OpusPoint Partners the frontrunner in the latest healthcare and life sciences innovations.

OpusPoint Partners with Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald at the helm continues to insist that research companies apply and maintain sound principles when doing business, while ensuring that their core values and code of ethics remain strong. This results in higher standards for advising and investing with its affiliated biotechnical facilities. This by extension provides investors with favorable returns with minimal risks, a formula that has proven its effectiveness in the successes that have been attained while taking the area of biotech investing to new heights.

Strong business connections are therefore being forged with both investment and biotechnology communities. Honest investing which is signaled by full open disclosure is one of the keys to the practice of integrity which then becomes an intrinsic part of every organization’s culture. The strength of these new business relationships are grounded when both companies and industry leaders share in these values.

OpusPoint Partners has proven its commitment to its shareholders made up of employees and investors and had remained fair in every aspect of its endeavors especially in the research and development areas of testing, manufacturing and the investigation of drugs. These fundamental principles establish successful conglomerates in the healthcare and life science world that commit to integrity and honesty in all their ventures, a rarity in today’s world where the pressure of competition tempt business leaders into employing tactics that are less than ethical, by providing positive clinical trials in order to improve their financial bottom lines. Time, money and dedication is required in order to retain ethical boundaries, resisting any temptations to forego ethics and increase the profits in light of the length of time and the volume of work needed to change the antiquated techniques and procedures still remaining in the medical and healthcare fields.

OpusPoint Partners aims to be different because they’ve formed teams with various corporations and individuals as well as investors and researchers with the single-minded mission of assisting emerging companies in the accomplishment of their goals which are critical, ultimately improving the diagnosis and treatment of diseases for the benefit of the entire world.

On July 10, 2009, Johnson and Johnson acquired Cougar Biotechnology Incorporated which was founded by Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald for more than one billion dollars. This Los Angeles based company conducts research on experimental drugs for cancer. Its portfolio includes drugs that even though experimental, have impressed researchers and investors including one drug that has shown promise in the treatment of late stage prostate cancer.

OpusPoint Partners has blossomed under the leadership of Michael Weiss and Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald. It is their combined efforts based on expertise and experience that has been instrumental in the quick evolution of medical treatments, diagnosis and finally the treatment of patients. The company’s success has surpassed even their projected goals, financing more than twenty major companies in less than two years with excellent financial projections and accomplishments in drug research.

Dr. Rosenwald is well positioned to lead OpusPoint Partners into its exciting future. He has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Pennsylvania State University along with an M. D. from the Temple University School of Medicine. In addition, he has more than seventeen years worth of experience as a biotechnology entrepreneur on Wall Street along with his active involvement in founding and re-capitalizing both privately and publicly owned companies with a biotechnological and life-sciences base.

During the years 1994 to 1997 and the years 2002 to 2006, Dr. Rosenwald managed the Aries Funds and the Orion Fund respectively. Under his management, the Orion Fund which is exclusively dedicated to private biotechnological investments particularly in PIPEs has made substantial progress while the Aries Funds has laid down in excess of $1BB on healthcare investments.

Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald is currently on the Board of Directors at the Republican Jewish coalition and has developed close contacts with many industry leaders of the biotechnological financing sector pointing OpusPoint Partners in the direction of a very successful future.

With a new oral androgen biosynthesis inhibitor, abiraterone acetate, Johnson & Johnson expands options for the treatment of metastatic advanced prostate cancer that progressed after conventional hormonal therapies. Also known as castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), advanced prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men and the fifths common cancer overall.

In September 2010, Phase 3 clinical trial was un-blinded and the patients in the placebo group were offered a real drug, too. About 1,200 patients were involved in the trial, where most part of men took abiraterone and another part was treated with placebo.

The data was revealed by J&J after interim results proved to be very promising and it simply would have been inhuman to keep the placebo group untreated when abiraterone increased survival in another group.

A novel, investigative oral therapy, abiraterone acetate is one of the most promising candidates for advanced prostate cancer treatment. Often called castration-resistant prostate cancer, the advanced form of this disease represents the metastatic prostate cancer that progressed after hormone therapy and earlier treatment attempts. As the population ages, prostate cancer rates will increase and it becomes very important to find the cure that will help to prevent and treat this fatal disease.

New Diagnoses of Prostate Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 217 thousand new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed next year and more than 30 thousand men will not survive the disease. However, prostate cancer is not necessarily a death sentence. This type of cancer grows usually very slow and fatal outcome often comes from other causes.

Statistics shows that one in six men is diagnosed with prostate cancer. But more than 2 million men with this disease in the United States are still alive. Although abiraterone and other drugs demonstrated their ability to extend life, they do not cure the disease. But with new investments made by various biotechnology banks like the one established by Lindsay Rosenwald, MD, there is still hope.

In 2004, abiraterone acetate was licensed from a UK biotechnology company BTG by Cougar Biotechnology, one of the most promising portfolio companies of Dr. Rosenwald. In 2009, Cougar was bought by Johnson & Johnson for about $1 billion.

Although Cougar doesn’t have any approved products, they took abiraterone from Phase I to Phase III. The trials were funded by Lindsay Rosenwald’s BioSciences. Because abiraterone seems to be very promising, J&J plans to offer the drug to some patients that meet certain criteria. This offer will be made under a rule that allows drug candidates to be used before the FDA approval.

Being an oral therapy, abiraterone acetate is different if compared to Provenge by Dendreon, which represents a complex biologic with a sophisticated delivery system. When Provenge was approved by FDA, J&J’s shares rose by 6%, while Dendreon’s shares jumped by 27%. Perhaps, this made J&J to announce the unblinding of the trial in September 2010.

These two drugs differ in many aspects. Provenge is used to promote the body’s own immune system, while abiraterone fights cancer cells in their microenvironment. The problem of cancers lies in the fact that our immune system doesn’t recognize cancer cells as enemies and doesn’t want to fight them. This lets the cancer grow. After treating the blood with Provenge, this defect is cured.

The principle of action of abiraterone acetate lies in the blockage of testosterone formation, which is a major reason why prostate cancer grows.

There are still debates on if arbiraterone acetate can undermine the Provenge’s market. In any case, there is still hope for survival or at least live extension in men with prostate cancer. Studies are under way and the drugs will be testes in patients with earlier stage cancer forms. As with any disease, the earlier you start the treatment, the better results you get.