Israeli medical equipment company EyeYon Medical announced that it has completed a Series B financing round of $6.5 million. The round was led by the Chinese fund Rimonci Capital, a joint venture representing China's largest private ophthalmology network, and the Chinese distribution company Gauss Medical. Previous investors TriVentures and Pontifax also participated in the round. The company's total investments now amount to $10 million.
EyeYon was founded in 2011 at the VLX Technological Incubator by ophthalmologists. The new capital will be used by the company to finance human clinical trials for its new product, which is a silicone disc implanted in place of the endothelial layer in the cornea. It is intended to be a subsistute for a cornea transplant.
"Corneal transplantation is the most common transplant in the world and about 50 percent of implantation surgery is the result of damage to the inner layer of the cornea called endothelium," explained Nahum Ferera, the company's CEO, as reported by The Marker.
"We are trying to replace an active layer with a synthetic and passive layer, and if the potential success is great, there are now close to 13 million people in the world who are waiting in line for a corneal transplant, but can only receive a donation from a dead donor," Ferera added.
Another EyeYon product, a contact lens called Hyper-CL, has received the FDA and CE certification (American and European regulators, respectively) and is in the process of sales. According to the company, it is sold in Spain, Poland, India, and in the US.
Read more: The Marker (Hebrew)
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