The investment will boost Eyestem’s efforts to find treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration, leading cause of incurable blindness affecting 170 million people
Eyestem, a cell therapy company, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from global investors in Switzerland and South Africa. The investment will boost the Bengaluru-based startup’s efforts to find a treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (Dry AMD), the leading cause of incurable blindness affecting almost 170 million people – mostly above 50 years of age – across the globe.
Founded by a management team consisting of clinical trial, cell therapy and ophthalmology experts, Eyestem has created a platform for allogeneic, scalable cell therapy. Eyecyte-RPE, the company’s flagship product, holds the promise of finding a treatment for Dry AMD. The recent funding will help the company to complete all the pre-clinical work to file for an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and be ready for phase one clinical trials by end of next year.
The current round was led by Zurich based Jacesa investments, South Africa based Church Street Trustees and Gillian Corken, Former CEO, Quintiles, South Africa. India based Impres Health also participated in the round.
Commenting on the positive developments, Dr Jogin Desai, Founder and CEO, Eyestem, said, “We have received excellent pre-clinical animal results from our partners at the Oregon Health and Science University, US. We now intend to take Eyecyte-RPE, our cell-based product to treat macular degeneration, forward and aim to be in human clinical trials in 18 months. It is encouraging to know that experienced and senior healthcare professionals from around the world have faith in our vision and have invested in us. We will be deploying these funds to manufacture the product, do confirmatory efficacy and toxicology and file an IND application.”
Global investors are seeing a huge potential in the hitherto untapped market, which players like Eyestem are well positioned to disrupt. “Eyestem has the ambition of creating a cell therapy platform which is scalable. It has the potential to disrupt the global cell therapy ecosystem, which is currently facing scale and pricing challenges,” agreed Gert Hoogland, Managing Director, Jacesa investments.
According to the other investors, Prof Oppel Greeff, Head, Church Street Trustees
and Corken, “Eyestem is among a handful of companies globally who are leading the charge to treat macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, both incurable diseases of the eye.”
“What made us invest in Eyestem is its global ambition, driven by its unique management team, which has a deep understanding of cellular biology, regulatory roadmaps and retinal degeneration,” they remarked.
Ashok Vohra, Managing Director, Impres Health, is confident that investing in Eyestem will pave the way for a healthier future. “Eyestem has significant potential to be a global player in the new frontiers of cell therapy and we are proud to be associated with them.”