Character Biosciences Named a ‘Fierce 15’ Biotech Company in 2025

On Sep 22, 2025

Jersey City-based Character Biosciences, a precision medicine company transforming drug development for polygenic diseases, announced that Fierce Biotech has named it as one of 2025’s “Fierce 15” biotechnology companies. The annual special report features the most innovative and promising private biotechnology companies in the industry.

“Being named to the Fierce 15 is a recognition of the bold science our team is advancing to change the course of age-related eye diseases,” said Cheng Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Character Biosciences. “This honor reflects the dedication and ingenuity of my colleagues, whose work has the potential to make a lasting impact for patients. At Character our values drive us to persevere, innovate, and to stay grounded on our mission of improving health outcomes for patients in need.”

Character Biosciences was recognized for its pioneering approach to precision ophthalmology, bringing human genetics, longitudinal clinical data, and computational biology to drug discovery and development to some of the most urgent unmet needs in eye disease. By combining deep scientific insight with a relentless focus on patients, Character is building a pipeline with the potential to transform how diseases like dry AMD and glaucoma are treated. Character’s first two programs, CTX203, a first-in-class lipid regulator, and CTX114, a novel complement inhibitor, are entering Phase 1 studies, and the company has an ongoing drug discovery collaboration with Bausch + Lomb.

“Over the past 23 years, our ‘Fierce 15’ special report has spotlighted the private biotechs pushing science into uncharted territory, whose approaches and discoveries represent genuine leaps forward,” said Ayla Ellison, Editor-in-Chief, Fierce Life Sciences and Healthcare. “This year we’ve selected 15 pre-commercial biotechs that are advancing transformative science in an unrelenting industry landscape. These companies exemplify the innovation and determination driving the next generation of therapies that will hopefully benefit patients worldwide.”

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