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Related Party Transactions
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2025
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
6.
Related Party Transactions

Consulting Agreements with Dr. Pepose

On April 11, 2024, the Company entered into a consulting agreement (the “Pepose Consulting Agreement”) with Dr. Pepose, a former director of the Company. Pursuant to the Pepose Consulting Agreement, Dr. Pepose was paid a monthly consulting fee and received an award of 32,000 RSUs, as well as stock options to purchase 48,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The RSUs vested in 12 equal monthly installments that began on May 11, 2024 and concluded on April 11, 2025. On November 21, 2024, the Pepose Consulting Agreement was amended to continue through April 11, 2026.

For the agreements with Dr. Pepose described above, the Company incurred related consulting expenses of $0.1 million and $0.4 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively, and the Company incurred related consulting expenses of $0.1 million and $0.3 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively.

March 2025 Subscription Agreements with Dr. George Magrath and Cam Gallagher

On March 21, 2025, the Company entered into a subscription agreement with each of Dr. George Magrath, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, and Cam Gallagher, the chairman of the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”), in connection with a private offering of our securities. For more information, see Note 8 – Financings.

August 2025 Subscription Agreements with Cam Gallagher and Sean Ainsworth

On August 25, 2025, the Company entered into subscription agreements pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell in a private placement (the “August 2025 Private Placement”) to certain investors 3,138,338 shares of its common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $3.5 million.

The August 2025 Private Placement was led by Cam Gallagher, Chair of the Company’s Board, with an investment of $1.0 million, along with participation by Sean Ainsworth, the lead independent director of the Board, in the amount of $0.1 million, and other investors for the balance of the Private Placement. For more information, see Note 8 – Financings.

Consulting Agreement with Dr. Jean Bennett

In connection with Dr. Jean Bennett’s appointment as a member of the Board, effective October 22, 2024, she and the Company entered into a consulting agreement (the “Bennett Consulting Agreement”), pursuant to which Dr. Bennett will provide consulting services to the Company for a one-year period. Pursuant to the Bennett Consulting Agreement, Dr. Bennett was granted a restricted stock unit award with respect to 100,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, which award vested on October 22, 2025. The Company incurred no consulting expenses, beyond the stock-based compensation associated with the restricted stock unit award, during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively.

Letter Agreement and Strategic Partnership—FFB

On August 25, 2022, Private Opus entered into a binding letter of agreement (“2022 Binding Letter Agreement”) with Foundation Fighting Blindness (“FFB”) and the Jaeb Center for Health Research (the “JCHR”) to collaborate on natural history studies involving individuals with retinal dystrophies associated with mutations in multiple genes of interest. Under the terms of the 2022 Binding Letter Agreement, FFB and the JCHR had the sole responsibility and authority to design and conduct the study, with input from the Company. Subject to certain conditions, the 2022 Binding Letter Agreement required that the Company provide FFB with a total of $2.0 million of funding to support the study, such amount being payable in an initial installment of $0.4 million at the time of submission of the final study protocol to the Institutional Review Board of the JCHR and, subject to certain conditions, in four annual installments of $0.4 million on the anniversaries of such submission. On May 27, 2025, the Company entered into a binding letter of agreement (“2025 Letter Agreement”) with FFB and the JCHR, which superseded and canceled the 2022 Binding Letter Agreement. As of September 30, 2025 a total  of $0.4 million was paid by the Company under the 2022 Binding Letter Agreement and no more payments were due under the 2022 Binding Letter Agreement.

Under the 2025 Letter Agreement, the Company will collaborate with FFB and the JCHR on portions of a study involving individuals with retinal dystrophies associated with mutations in the RDH12 or BEST1 genes (the “Study”). The term of this 2025 Letter Agreement ends on the date that is two months from the Study’s completion. FFB and the JCHR, as its designee, shall have the sole responsibility and authority to design and conduct the Study, with input from the Company.  Under the 2025 Letter Agreement, the Company is obligated to make two payments to FFB: (1) $0.3 million on or before June 30, 2025 and (2) $0.3 million on or before January 31, 2027 upon receipt of semi-annual reports from FFB  outlining the progress being made in the Study, including visit completion status and publication plans, and the ability for the Company to provide ongoing comments and suggestions regarding possible changes to the Study. Such payments shall constitute the sole compensation paid to FFB in return for Company access to research materials and datasets.

The Company paid the initial $0.3 million due on or before June 30, 2025 under the 2025 Letter Agreement which was recorded as research and development expense. As of September 30, 2025, the Company is required to fund one additional installment in the aggregate of $0.3 million upon receipt of future semi-annual reports.

RDF Agreement
On June 13, 2025, the Company entered into a funding agreement (the “RDF Agreement”) with the Foundation Fighting Blindness Retinal Degeneration Fund (“RDF”), whose sole member is FFB, a significant stockholder of the Company, relating to the Company’s program to develop gene therapies to treat patients impacted by retinitis pigmentosa caused by pathogenic variants in the Mer proto-oncogene tyrosine kinase (MERTK) gene (the “MERTK Program”). The RDF Agreement provides for nondilutive funding by RDF of up to $2.0 million to support the development of the MERTK Program, $1.0 million of which was disbursed to the Company in June 2025 and up to $1.0 million of which may be disbursed to the Company upon achievement of a specified development milestone subject to RDF’s receipt of eligible funds.
Under the RDF Agreement, the Company is subject to certain diligence obligations to develop and commercialize a product under the MERTK Program. If the Company is unable to achieve certain milestones by certain dates, or otherwise fails to meet its diligence obligations, the Company will be obligated to collaborate with RDF to out-license or otherwise make applicable rights available to a third party.

In addition, the Company will pay a milestone payment equal to the total amounts funded by RDF under the RDF Agreement upon the achievement of a regulatory milestone. The Company will also make tiered royalty payments to RDF in low-to-mid single percentages until RDF has received aggregate royalty payments equal to 300% of the amounts funded by RDF under the Agreement.  In the event of a change of control of the Company or a sale or exclusive license of the MERTK Program, RDF will have the option to require the Company to buy out RDF’s interest under the Agreement for an amount equal to 100% of the funds disbursed to the Company under the Agreement. The Agreement may be terminated by either party for cause, including material breach or bankruptcy, subject to a cure period.

The RDF Agreement was accounted for as debt under ASC 470, Debt. ASC 470 requires interest expense to be recorded under an effective interest rate method. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, interest expense was $0.1 million based on an effective rate of interest of 22.3% and was recorded as interest expense in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of comprehensive loss. The accreted liability in connection with the RDF Agreement was $1.1 million as of September 30, 2025 and was recorded under the long-term funding agreement, related party line item in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets.