Less than a year after submitting their NDA and several weeks before the June 28 PFUFA date, Bausch + Lomb Corp. and partner Novaliq GmbH have been awarded U.S. FDA approval for Miebo, their perfluorohexyloctane eye drop formulation designed to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease associated with meibomian gland dysfunction.

Ray Therapeutics Inc.’s upsized and oversubscribed $100 million series A financing will support the firm’s ongoing efforts with optogenetics, an approach that deploys adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy to deliver a light-sensitive, highly bioengineered protein found in nature to retinal cells.

Astellas Pharma Inc. announced it plans to acquire Iveric Bio Inc. in an all-cash deal in which it will pay $40 per Iveric share for a total equity value of roughly $5.9 billion. “Iveric Bio has promising programs including avacincaptad pegol (Zimura), an important program for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and capabilities across the entire value chain in the ophthalmology field,” said Naoki Okamura, Astellas’ president and CEO.

Complement Therapeutics GmbH raised €72 million (US$79.4 million) in a series A round to move into the clinic a novel gene therapy for treating geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration. It’s the largest series A round completed in Europe so far this year.

PYC Therapeutics Ltd.’s lead candidate, VP-001, is entering the clinic, and the RNA therapy could be the first potential treatment for retinitis pigmentosa type 11, which causes blindness that begins in childhood and ultimately leads to legal blindness by middle age.

Japan’s PMDA has approved Aurion Biotech Inc.’s cell therapy, Vyznova, for the treatment of bullous keratopathy of the cornea, making it the first-ever approval of a cell therapy to treat corneal endothelial disease.

Patients with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy who received bilateral injections of Gensight Biologics SA’s Lumevoq (lenadogene nolparvovec) are continuing to see statistically significant visual improvements three years into the phase III REFLECT trial, but the missed primary endpoint at 1.5 years, along with a series of manufacturing mishaps, have left the gene therapy’s approval prospects uncertain.

Ophthalmic startup Eluminex Biosciences Ltd. closed a $40 million series B round to progress its pipeline of ophthalmic assets and recombinant human collagen technology. Eluminex’s pipeline includes multi-targeted antibody molecules for vision-threatening retinal diseases and an oral small molecule for rare inherited pediatric retinal dystrophies, but its lead asset, EB-301, is a biosynthetic cornea derived from recombinant human type III collagen.

After a delay in November that resulted in a new PDUFA date, Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Syfovre (pegcetacoplan injection) received U.S. FDA approval for treating geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. While this is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for GA, there is competition afoot from Belite Bio Inc. and Iveric Bio Inc. The intravitreal targeted C3 therapy’s Feb. 17 approval of the priority NDA came more than a week ahead of its Feb. 26 PDUFA.