Eyevensys, based on reserach conducted at Paris Descartes University, closes its series A round at $10m three years after it raised the initial tranche.
Eyevensys, a France-based biotechnology developer focused on ophthalmic diseases backed by France’s public investment bank Bpifrance, closed its series A round yesterday at €9m ($10m).
The extension was led by healthcare-focused VC firm Pontifax Venture Capital.
Eyevensys began raising the round in 2013 with an undisclosed amount provided by pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim’s corporate venturing subsidiary Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Investments.
In October 2015, the company revealed Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitment made it the lead investor in a first €7.5m close. Bpifrance, CapDecisif and Inserm Transfert Initiative, the investment arm of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, joined the round at that time.
Founded in 2008, Eyevensys is working on a platform, dubbed EyeCET. The technology enables a non-viral, local, sustained production of therapeutic proteins in the eye to treat a range of conditions.
Eyevensys is based on research conducted by Francine Behar-Cohen, then a professor of medicine at Paris Descartes University. She has since moved on to become chief medical officer of the Gonin Lausanne Ophthalmology Hospital.
The money will go towards advancing the company’s lead candidate, EYS606, into a phase 1b clinical trial in France and the UK by the end of the year. The treatment is aimed at non-infectious uveitis, an inflammation of the eye that can lead to loss of vision.
Ohad Hammer, analyst at Pontifax, will join the company’s board.
In 2012, Bpifrance-owned fund Innobio, Inserm Transfert and CapDecisif provided $2.1m in seed funding.
Hammer said: “Delivering drugs to the eye is one of the major challenges in the ophthalmology area. Eyevensys’ innovative EyeCET technology brings a truly novel approach to treating ophthalmic diseases with the potential to offer significant clinical benefit as well as improved patient convenience.
“We are looking forward to supporting the Eyevensys team, with the guidance of the founder, professor Francine Behar-Cohen, in developing innovative therapies to treat complex ophthalmic diseases.”
– This article first appeared on our sister site Global Government Venturing.
