Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Business

Business

Description of Business and Organization

    IVERIC bio, Inc. (the “Company” or “IVERIC”) is a science-driven biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel treatment options for retinal diseases with significant unmet medical needs. The Company is currently developing both therapeutic product candidates for age-related retinal diseases and gene therapy product candidates for orphan inherited retinal diseases ("IRDs"). The Company believes that both therapeutics and gene therapy serve important roles in drug development and providing potential treatment options for patients suffering from retinal diseases.

    The Company's therapeutics portfolio consists of Zimura® (avacincaptad pegol), a complement C5 inhibitor, and its preclinical product candidate IC-500, a High temperature requirement A serine peptidase 1 protein ("HtrA1") inhibitor. The Company is targeting the following diseases with Zimura:

•Geographic Atrophy ("GA"), which is the advanced stage of age-related macular degeneration ("AMD"), and is characterized by marked thinning or atrophy of retinal tissue, leading to irreversible loss of vision; and

•autosomal recessive Stargardt disease ("STGD1"), which is an orphan inherited condition characterized by progressive damage to the central portion of the retina (the "macula") and other retinal tissue, leading to loss of vision.

The Company previously also evaluated Zimura in combination with Lucentis® (ranibizumab), an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor ("anti-VEGF") agent, for the treatment of wet AMD, for which the Company completed a Phase 2a clinical trial during the fourth quarter of 2018. The Company is developing IC-500 for GA secondary to AMD and potentially other age-related retinal diseases.

    The Company's gene therapy portfolio consists of two product candidates in preclinical development (IC-100 and IC-200) and several ongoing research and development programs, each of which uses adeno-associated virus ("AAV") for gene delivery. These AAV mediated gene therapy programs are targeting the following orphan IRDs:

•rhodopsin-mediated autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa ("RHO-adRP"), which is characterized by progressive and severe bilateral loss of vision leading to blindness;

•IRDs associated with mutations in the BEST1 gene, including Best vitelliform macular dystrophy ("Best disease"), which is generally characterized by bilateral egg yolk-like lesions in the macula, which, over time, progress to atrophy and loss of vision;

•Leber Congenital Amaurosis type 10 ("LCA10"), which is characterized by severe bilateral loss of vision at or soon after birth;

•autosomal recessive Stargardt disease; and

•IRDs associated with mutations in the USH2A gene, which include Usher syndrome type 2A and USH2A-associated nonsyndromatic autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa.

The Company is developing IC-100 for RHO-adRP and IC-200 for BEST1-related IRDs.