Cell therapy firm Eyestem raises USD 6.4 million in Series A round

Post this funding, the company said it will remain focussed on solidifying its cell therapy platform and moving its flagship product, Eyecyte-RPE, through early clinical trials of an international standard.

Eyestem, a Bengaluru-based cell therapy company, has raised USD 6.4 million (Rs 51 crore) in a Series A round led by three pharma majors -- Biological E. Limited (BE), Alkem and NATCO -- and Anurag and Karan Bagaria, promoters of Kemwell Biopharma. Existing investors Endiya Partners and Kotak Private Equity also participated in this round, valuing Eyestem at USD 46.4 million (Rs 371 Crore) post this fund-raise, it said in a statement on Monday.

A Series A round is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eyestem, Jogin Desai said the company was started with the sole purpose of being able to create cell therapy products ''at scale for diseases that devastate a large number of people in India and the world''. ''The support of major Indian pharma companies who share our vision endorses our strategy of developing affordable innovation for patients worldwide'', he said. Post this funding, the company said it will remain focussed on solidifying its cell therapy platform and moving its flagship product, Eyecyte-RPE, through early clinical trials of an international standard. EyeCyte-RPE replaces damaged retinal pigment epithelium cells and is designed to restore sight for patients in early stages of 'Macular Degeneration' or arrest loss of vision for those in later stages, it was explained. The product is allogenic, administered by a surgical procedure and is patented in India and abroad, the statement said. Eyestem was founded in 2016, by a team of clinical research, regenerative medicine and ophthalmology experts, the statement said. The long-term vision of the company is to develop a scalable cell therapy platform to treat incurable diseases and democratise access to these newer technologies globally, it said.