EyeBio doubles the size of its original Series A raise with an additional $65 million, with new investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, Omega Funds and Vertex Ventures HC joining the round to support accelerated development of its innovative retinal disease pipeline
Completes enrollment of Multiple Ascending Dose phase of AMARONE, the first clinical trial of EyeBio’s lead investigational asset Restoret; favorable initial safety and tolerability at all dose levels
NEW YORK and LONDON, November 14, 2023 – Eyebiotech Limited (“EyeBio” or “the Company”), a privately held clinical-stage ophthalmology biotechnology company working to deliver a new generation of therapies for eye diseases, today announced the successful close of an extension to its Series A financing, bringing the total raised to date to $130 million. EyeBio will use the proceeds from the funding to accelerate the Company’s clinical development program and further build out its innovative retina pipeline.
New investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, Omega Funds and Vertex Ventures HC joined the financing round, which included participation from existing investors SV Health Investors, Jeito Capital, Samsara Biocapital and MRL Ventures Fund.
“We’re excited to be a part of the Series A extension along with Bain Capital Life Sciences and Vertex Ventures HC. We believe EyeBio’s innovative pipeline has the potential to greatly benefit patients with significant unmet medical needs leading to vision loss and blindness,” said Bernard Davitian, Partner at Omega Funds. “We look forward to partnering with David Guyer and the world-class team at EyeBio to contribute to building a great company together.”
“EyeBio has a seasoned executive team committed to advancing new medicines leveraging novel biological mechanisms, which address remaining disease drivers such as persistent vascular leakage. EyeBio’s potential breakthrough solution presents tremendous potential in enhancing patient care and treatment outcomes for millions affected by sight-threatening disease,” said Christine Brennan, PhD, Managing Director at Vertex Ventures HC.
“We are extremely excited about the potential of our pipeline and progress to date,” said David Guyer, MD, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of EyeBio. “The expansion of our Series A round in the current fundraising environment speaks to our investors’ enthusiasm for what the EyeBio team is accomplishing. We’re very fortunate to have the caliber of investors and board members that we do, and adding the resources and expertise of Bain Capital Life Sciences, Omega, and Vertex Ventures HC will enable us to deliver on the promise of EyeBio’s pipeline as quickly as possible.”
In addition to the Series A expansion, EyeBio announced the completion of enrollment into the multiple ascending dose (MAD) portion of AMARONE, the Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of Restoret in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) and neovascular age related macular degeneration (NVAMD). Restoret is an investigational, intravitreally delivered, tri-specific antibody that acts as an agonist of the Wnt signaling pathway. It is designed to resolve residual fluid in the retina with the goal of improving visual acuity in individuals with NVAMD and DME, as well as other retinal diseases of permeability.
“Completion of Part 1 of the AMARONE trial is a major achievement for EyeBio and represents a significant milestone in our effort to bring innovative therapies to patients with retinal diseases,” said Tony Adamis, MD, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of EyeBio. “We hear constantly from retinal physicians about the need to drive better outcomes for their patients and the demand for novel approaches to treating serious retinal diseases. Restoret may be one such approach. It’s a first-in-class Wnt pathway agonist antibody that we hope can improve the outcomes and lives of patients with diabetic macular edema and neovascular age-related macular degeneration.”
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About the AMARONE Clinical Trial
The Phase 1b/2a AMARONE (Anti-permeability Mechanism and Age-Related Ocular Neovascularization Evaluation) clinical trial is a multi-center two-part trial consisting of an open-label multiple ascending dose (MAD) safety study, and a dose-finding single-masked comparative safety and preliminary efficacy study of intravitreal (IVT) Restoret (EYE103) in participants with diabetic macular edema (DME) and neovascular age related macular degeneration (NVAMD).
About Restoret, a Wnt agonist tetravalent tri-specific agonist antibody
Restoret is a tri-specific Wnt agonist antibody designed to address urgent unmet medical need in patients with back-of-the-eye diseases. Restoret aims to eliminate leakage in vascular diseases by activating the Wnt pathway to both restore and maintain the blood-retinal barrier. The result of a breakthrough in protein engineering and CMC, Restoret may enable the clinical translation of the extensively studied Wnt pathway for the first time in the eye. Published research has shown that Wnt signaling in the retina plays a central role in the maintenance of vascular integrity, and defects in Wnt signaling cause retinal vascular leakage. Restoret has demonstrated efficacy in preclinical ophthalmic models, including validation in genetic models.
About EyeBio (Eyebiotech Limited)
Eyebiotech Limited (EyeBio) is a clinical-stage, privately held ophthalmology biotechnology company dedicated to developing and delivering a new generation of therapies to protect, restore, and improve vision in patients with sight-threatening eye diseases. Founded in August 2021 by David Guyer, M.D., and Tony Adamis, M.D., EyeBio has a leadership team with a world-class track record in ophthalmology drug development. With operations in the United States and the United Kingdom, EyeBio is building and advancing a pipeline of ocular therapies that combine scientifically robust targets with innovative translational approaches. EyeBio was seeded and created by SV Health Investors and raised a Series A in February 2022 led by SV Health Investors, alongside Samsara BioCapital and Jeito Capital, with additional financial backing from MRL Ventures Fund, the therapeutics-focused corporate venture fund of Merck & Co., Inc. For more information, please see www.eyebiotech.com.
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