Eversight Partners with Emmecell Biotech to Advance Ocular Cell Therapies
Global nonprofit eye bank Eversight has partnered with biotech company Emmecell to advance cell therapies for the treatment of eye disease. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Emmecell’s minimally invasive cell therapy injects healthy corneal endothelial cells obtained from donor corneas into the eye to repopulate the patient’s diseased cornea with functioning endothelial cells, potentially eliminating the need for transplantation.
“One donor cornea can restore vision to one recipient eye through transplantation—a miraculous gift,” said Diane Hollingsworth, President and CEO, Eversight. “If in the future we can provide healthy endothelial cells from a donor cornea for cell therapy, that donor has the potential to restore vision in many more patients, maximizing their gift far beyond a single cornea transplant. As stewards of the gift of sight, Eversight is proud to partner with Emmecell to advance this promising therapy.”
Corneal endothelial cells from a single donor tissue could be amplified using Emmecell’s technology to restore vision for hundreds of patients via injectable cell therapy, according to Emmercell. To date, cell therapies that replace or enhance damaged tissue often have been limited by the inability to localize treatment to the site of injury or disease. Using a proprietary Magnetic Cell Delivery (MCD) nanoparticle platform, Emmecell aims to solve the therapeutic challenges of delivery, retention and integration of healthy donor cells.
“Emmecell’s mission is to bring innovative regenerative medicine out of the laboratory and into patient care,” said Jeffrey L. Goldberg, MD, PhD, Emmecell co-founder and chair of the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford. “We are confident that Eversight’s eye banking expertise, global impact, commitment to research and surgeon education, and history of innovation and leadership in their field will help further harness the power of the Emmecell platform to cure blindness for more people worldwide.”
Eversight provided 8,954 corneas for sight-restoring transplantation in 2023, of which 3,525 were distributed in 29 countries outside the United States. While there is no wait to receive a cornea transplant in the US, it is estimated that there is just one cornea available per 70 patients who need a life-changing transplant globally.[1] Alternative cell therapies made possible by Emmecell’s technology have the potential to transform more lives in developing countries without the need for local eye banking infrastructure or imported donor tissue.
US patients may be eligible to enroll in Emmecell’s minimally invasive, multicenter, phase 1B clinical trial for the treatment of corneal edema: NCT04894110. If proven safe and effective, Emmecell’s EO2002 therapy could eliminate the need for corneal transplantation in thousands of people in the U.S. annually and give the gift of sight to many more worldwide. Corneal specialists interested in enrolling patients can call 650-769-4232 or email clinicaltrials@emmecell.com.
1. Gain P, Jullienne R, He Z, et al. Global Survey of Corneal Transplantation and Eye Banking. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2016;134(2):167–173. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2015.4776