CorneaGen Raises $37 Million to Advance Development of Cornea Cell Therapy

CorneaGen announced the closing of a $37 million Series B financing. The round was led by Flying L Partners in collaboration with Falcon Vision, a platform formed by KKR to advance innovation in ophthalmology. Petrichor Healthcare Capital Management also participated significantly in the equity round and provided a $25 million credit facility to provide additional growth capital to fund CorneaGen’s global expansion.  

“CorneaGen is dedicating significant resources to finding new ways to prevent and treat corneal blindness that can be scaled to reach people around the world,” Bill Link, managing partner of Flying L Partners, said in a company news release. “Advances and innovation in corneal treatments up until now have been minimal because the market has not been adequately developed and there is industry fragmentation worldwide.” 

CorneaGen will use the proceeds of the Series B financing to expand its market share and acquire and develop innovative corneal care products, services and technologies. One of the most promising is Cornea Cell Therapy, a treatment that involves culturing human eye endothelial cells and injecting them into the anterior chamber of a corneal blind patient’s eye. The injected cells have been shown to safely restore sight within a month, eliminating the need for more invasive corneal transplant surgery and transforming the lives of patients with impaired endothelial cell function who suffer from extreme vision loss or distortion.

“We are moving forward with creating a subsidiary in Japan to drive obtaining regulatory approval to manufacture and commercialize the treatment,” CorneaGen CEO Monty Montoya said in the news release. “A single donated human cornea yields sight-restoring Cornea Cell Therapy treatments for 100 or more patients, so this will be a game-changer for corneal blind people around the world, especially in areas where access to donor tissue is restricted.”

All patients in Cornea Cell Therapy clinical trials in Japan reported clear corneas one month after the procedure and a full year of postoperative data shows their corneas continued to be healthy and clear.

“As a cornea researcher and surgeon, I want to ensure that the maximum number of patients will benefit from our efforts to develop Cornea Cell Therapy,” said Dr. Shigeru Kinoshita of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan. “It is clear to my collaborators and me that CorneaGen is the ideal organization to realize the full potential of this treatment and we are excited to see our efforts advance under their leadership.”

CorneaGen also recently acquired the domestic eye bank operations of KeraLink International and now provides approximately 25 percent of domestic donor corneas for transplant surgeries.