Ciliatech Raises Money to Advance Development of Disruptive Glaucoma Implant
Ciliatech announced it has raised €3.5M (about $4 million) to advance the company's glaucoma implant, CID (Cilio-scleral Inter-positioning Device), a technology that aims to disrupt traditional approaches in glaucoma surgery. Ciliatech says CID differs from other glaucoma implants as it is the first implant which leaves the anterior chamber untouched.
"The concept underpinning CID allows glaucoma patients to avoid a whole host of medical complications, of which the most serious are the filtration bleb and endothelial cell loss. In clinical trials CID has demonstrated its success in stabilizing IOP overtime, within the safe zone of 15 mmHg, along with significantly reducing the need for glaucoma medication (-85%), and with no treatment failure. Postoperative patient care is vastly simplified, substantially improving patient quality of life," according to Ciliatech.
Ciliatech will use these funds to achieve key R&D milestones and fulfil the regulatory affairs requirements to obtain CE mark approval by the end of 2024. It will also continue its clinical research program. The recruitment and roll-out of a new trial, which will start in Q2, 2023 in Europe, is the first in a series of clinical experiments to gather more knowledge about the safety and performance of CID in various patient populations and clinical settings.
The Series A fundraising was raised from BNP Développement, Kreaxi and Bernard Chauvin, all historical investors. This funding is composed of €1.75M ($2 million) in capital and the remaining €1.75M in bank loans. Since its founding in 2017, Ciliatech has raised €6M ($6.5 million).
“We are truly thankful to our investors for strengthening their investment in our company. This is a testament to their confidence in the innovative qualities of CID, a disruptive technology enabling a pivotal change in the treatment of glaucoma,” said Olivier Benoit, CEO of Ciliatech. “The clinical observations of patients using our first-generation CID after 24 months have been very encouraging. Clinical outcomes on our second-generation device are looking even more promising. We are especially satisfied by the safety profile and the high number of patients still medication-free at 24 months.”