Endiya Partners invest in cell therapy company, Eyestem

Bengaluru: Eyestem, India’s leading cell therapy company, has raised funding from Endiya Partners, one of India’s leading VC Funds in Technology, Healthcare and Life-sciences. This funding will allow Eyestem to move one step closer to scaling up its platform and creating affordable cell therapies which are essential in democratizing access to a large section of humanity.

This investment will enable Eyestem to reach their goal of becoming one of the first few companies in the world to develop a treatment for Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (Dry AMD), the leading cause of incurable blindness affecting almost 170 million people – mostly above 50 years of age – across the globe.

Founded by a highly experienced management team consisting of ophthalmology, cell therapy and clinical trial experts, Eyestem has created a platform for allogeneic, scalable cell therapy. Eyecyte RPE, the company’s patented flagship product, is close to finding a treatment for Dry AMD and the company has two more products in the pipeline for similar incurable diseases affecting humanity. The company has received several prestigious awards and grants from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Last year, the company received manufacturing approval for Eyecyte RPE from the Indian regulators and is in the process of manufacturing the product for confirmatory efficacy and toxicity studies in animals. Phase 1 human clinical trials for Eyecyte RPE are currently scheduled for early 2022.

Dr. Jogin Desai, Founder and CEO, Eyestem, said, “Endiya is one of the more seasoned investors in the medical space in India and we are thrilled to have them on board. There are 1.5 to 4 Crore people suffering from Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration in India.  With our Eyecyte RPE cell-based therapy, we will soon be able to replace or repair damaged cells in the retina thereby helping address a previously incurable disease. I am looking forward to our clinical trials, scheduled towards early 2022, which will bring us closer to solving this global problem.”

Indian investors are seeing a huge potential in this untapped market. “Healthcare, as we know it, is undergoing a transformation with new technologies providing treatment for diseases that have hitherto been deemed incurable. We are happy to be partnering with Dr Jogin Desai and the accomplished teams at Eyestem in their ambition to develop allogenic cell therapy products for such incurable diseases.We are particularly excited about the results we have seen in the product for treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a retinal degenerative disease” says Dr. Ramesh Byrapeneni, Managing Director, Endiya Partners.