Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded and registered as a Delaware Corporation in 1998. The Company headquarters and R&D laboratory are located in San Diego, California, less than ten minutes away from The Scripps Research Institute.  Optimer also has one subsidiary, Optimer Biotechnology, Inc. located in Taipei, Taiwan.  We have over 60 employees, 26 of whom hold Masters, Ph.D., or M.D. degrees.  

Optimer is currently focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative anti-infective products in diseases of unmet needs and where current therapeutic options have limitations. Our initial development efforts address products that treat gastrointestinal infections and related diseases where current therapies have limitations, including diminished efficacy, serious adverse side effects, drug-to-drug interactions, difficult patient compliance and bacterial resistance. 

We have two late-stage anti-infective product candidates, Fidaxomicin and Prulifloxacin.  Fidaxomicin, formerly known as OPT-80, is the only antibiotic therapy currently in Phase 3 worldwide clinical development for Clostridium difficile infection. Prulifloxacin is an antibiotic which has completed two Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea, a form of infectious diarrhea.

The Company has also licensed technologies and therapeutic targets from The Scripps Research Institute and The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  These licenses form the core of Optimer's carbohydrate technologies.