Mediwhale Inc. closed a $9 million series A round that will see the company take its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered retina scans to prevent heart and kidney diseases to the U.S. market.
Ciliatech SAS secured $3.87 million in series A funding to continue developing its second-generation implant to treat open-angle glaucoma. This round was led by its historical shareholders, including BNP Development SAS, Kreaxi SAS and individual investor Bernard Chauvin. “With this additional money, we can continue clinical trials to obtain the CE mark,” Olivier Benoit, co-founder and CEO of Ciliatech SAS told BioWorld.
Perfuse Therapeutics Inc. has received FDA approval of its IND application for a first-in-human phase I/IIa study of PER-001 intravitreal implant in patients with glaucoma.
Ciliatech SAS reported positive news for people suffering from glaucoma who want to avoid the complications that come with using existing glaucoma procedures. Results from the SAFARI 1 clinical trial, using its first-generation cilio-scleral inter-positioning device (CID) implant in patients with open angle glaucoma, showed marked stability of intraocular pressure (IOP), along with a significantly reduced need for glaucoma medication 24 months on from surgery.
Eyenuk Inc. is significantly extending the scope of its artificial intelligence system for the automatic analysis of retinal images, adding the diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma to the EU approved uses of Eyeart AI.
Thirona BV spun out its retina division into a stand-alone business, Thirona Retina BV, focused exclusively on the eye disease market, effective Jan. 1, 2023. The development comes after the recent expansion of Retcad, Thirona’s flagship solution for eye disease screening. Thirona BV will continue to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven systems for precision medicine in lung disease.
The eyes certainly have it. There are plenty of ocular gene therapies being studied in a crowded field and now there is a new one as Perceive Biotherapeutics Inc. has closed on a $78 million series B financing.
Chaomu Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. has raised nearly ¥100 million (US$14 million) in a series A+ round to develop its ophthalmic medical devices. The proceeds from the financing will be used for the clinical trials of its electromodulation product for nystagmus and the development of implantable medical chips, as well as to speed up the development of products for myopia correction. Following the financing, Beijing-based Chaomu will expand to the global market by looking for collaborations with international institutions. It plans to obtain marketing approvals for its ophthalmic medical devices in the U.S. and Europe.
Heading into the readout of the phase III Mont Blanc study testing Nicox SA’s NCX-470, a nitric oxide-donating version of prostaglandin analogue bimatoprost, analysts were looking for a superior intraocular pressure-lowering profile vs. latanoprost, predicting such data could position the drug as a new standard of care in a crowded market.
