Organization and Basis of Presentation

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2014

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Organization and Basis of Presentation

1. Organization and Basis of Presentation

Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”), formerly known as Denovo Therapeutics, Inc. and Newco LS14, Inc., a Delaware corporation formed on February 25, 2008, is a biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary protein engineering platform, called AMP-Rx, that it applies to the discovery and development of protein therapeutics to treat diseases of the eye. The Company’s most advanced product candidate is EBI-005, which it designed, engineered and generated using its AMP-Rx platform and is developing as a topical treatment for dry eye disease and allergic conjunctivitis. In 2013, the Company completed a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of EBI-005 in patients with moderate to severe dry eye disease. In 2014, the Company has initiated a pivotal Phase 3 clinical program evaluating EBI-005 for the treatment of moderate to severe dry eye disease. The Company also has initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the use of EBI-005 in patients with allergic conjunctivitis.

On May 28, 2013, the Company entered into a collaboration and license agreement with ThromboGenics N.V (“ThromboGenics”). Under the agreement, the Company and ThromboGenics are collaborating to identify protein or peptide therapeutics that directly modulate any of a specified set of targets in a novel pathway in retinal disease (Note 4).

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”).

Liquidity

The Company has generated an accumulated deficit at June 30, 2014 of $72.9 million since inception and will require substantial additional capital to fund operations. The future success of the Company is dependent on its ability to develop its product candidates and ultimately upon its ability to attain profitable operations. The Company is subject to a number of risks similar to other early-stage life science companies, including, but not limited to, successful discovery and development of its drug candidates, raising additional capital, development by its competitors of new technological innovations, protection of proprietary technology and market acceptance of the Company’s products. On February 11, 2014, the Company completed its initial public offering (“IPO”) whereby the Company sold 5,750,000 shares of its common stock for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $50.2 million (see Note 2). At June 30, 2014, the Company believes that its unrestricted cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund the Company’s current operating plan through at least the next twelve months.