VIB-affiliated V-Bio Ventures has joined a series A round for the retinal treatment developer that already included Imperial Innovations.
Precision Ocular, a UK-based retinal disease therapy developer, closed its series A round at £15.5m ($20.6m) today following an extension provided by V-Bio Ventures, a VC fund affiliated with life sciences institute VIB.
The company previously achieved an initial £13.5m close in March 2016 thanks to a consortium led by Imperial Innovations, the investment firm set up by Imperial College London.
Drug encapsulation company Hovione Scientia, Consort Medical, a contract drug developer and manufacturer, and VC firm Neomed also contributed to the round.
Founded in 2014, Precision Ocular is working on treatments for retinal diseases including age-related macular degeneration, which can lead to partial blindness, and diabetic macular oedema, which may cause complete loss of vision.
The company’s technology enables drugs to be delivered to the specific parts of the eye affected by a condition, thereby reducing side-effects and making therapies more efficient.
The series A capital will help Precision Ocular accelerate its pipeline and enable the development of a next-generation system that can deliver drugs to the back of the eye.
Precision Ocular also, at the time of the initial tranche in March, entered a strategic collaboration deal with Consort Medical to scale up production of its products.
Tom Cavanagh, chief executive of Precision Ocular, said: “We are delighted to welcome such a knowledgeable life sciences investor like V-Bio Ventures at this important time for Precision Ocular.
“The supplemental financing validates the company’s therapeutic approach and enables us to drive forward our programmes, and ultimately our goal, to build a global ophthalmic franchise based on the successful development and commercialisation of our innovative and much needed treatments for retinal diseases.”
Christina Takke, managing partner of V-Bio Ventures, said: “We are excited about the opportunity to work with Precision Ocular and their partners, geared to bring novel eye disease therapeutic treatments to patients.
“We rarely find an investment opportunity driven by such an experienced and goal-oriented management team. Precision Ocular’s technology has a great potential to fill the market need for treatments aimed at the back of the eye combining superior therapeutic efficacy, high safety and delivery precision, and patient convenience.”
