EyeYon Medical Raises $25M For Clinical Trials Of Its Synthetic Implant

Israeli startup EyeYon Medical, a developer of ophthalmic products, has raised $25 million in a Series C funding round, the company announced on Tuesday.

The round was led by a global strategic leader in the ophthalmic industry and CR-CP Life Science Fund, which invests in life science companies that develop drugs, cell therapies, medical devices, and smart healthcare technology.

Other participants in the round include Global Health Sciences (GHS) Fund (Quark Venture LP and GF Securities), BPC and existing investors Triventures, Rimonci, Pontifax and Diamond BioFund.

Founded in 2011 by Dr. Ofer Daphna, CEO Nahum Ferera MD, and Dr. Arie Marcovich, MD., EyeYon Medical develops advanced products and devices to treat acute problems in the ophthalmic world.

The latest round brings the total amount of capital raised by the company to $36 million.

The new capital will be used to expand the clinical trials of EyeYon Medical’s flagship product, the EndoArt, the world’s first synthetic implant which enables doctors to treat chronic corneal edema with a minimally invasive surgery that erodes the use of human tissue.

With more than 13 million on the waiting list for a corneal transplant, the EndoArt was created in an effort to ease global shortages of corneal donations. Clinical trials, which are already underway in selected medical centers across Europe (IVRC in Heidelberg, Instituto de Microcirugia Ocular (IMO) in Barcelona, and AMC in Amsterdam) and in Israel (Soroka Medical Center, Rambam Health Care Campus, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Barzilai Medical Center) have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of EyeYon Medical’s groundbreaking technology.

“These resources will enable us to accelerate the clinical and regulatory phases in our key markets,” said Dr. Ofer Daphna, Co-founder and the inventor of the EndoArt, “EndoArt will simplify corneal surgical procedures and can potentially empower any anterior segment surgeon to perform the surgery with a vision to eliminate the worldwide long waiting list for available human donor corneas.”

EyeYon Medical will also expand its clinical trials with the aim to receive regulatory approval in the USA, China and Europe and leverage the company’s extensive professional network and the high demand for the product.

“The overwhelming interest in joining our latest funding round reflects the confidence that investors have in our unique and disruptive technology and its tremendous ability to address the clinical challenges and the huge market opportunity in the growing corneal implants market,” said Nahum Ferera, co-Founder and CEO of EyeYon Medical, “Together with our team of clinical and medical device experts, we have developed a novel solution which has already shown groundbreaking results and safety in human trials. The latest investments position EyeYon Medical as a global pioneer in the ophthalmology space and in corneal care.”