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VisusNano opens new facility at Discovery Park and receives additional Innovate UK funding to accelerate revolutionary intraocular lens technology
Sandwich, Kent, 17th September 2020
Medtech company VisusNano announces the opening of its 800 sq. ft facility at Discovery Park, the Life Sciences Opportunity Zone for ambitious and growing companies. The expansion will enable the rapid scale up of the company’s proprietary biodegradable intraocular lens, known as MEDILens. The drug-eluting lens is being developed to release anti-inflammatory drugs directly into the patients’ eye following cataract surgery.
The company has also received a £56,000 COVID-19 continuity grant from Innovate UK to ensure it maintains the accelerated pace of product development. This follows the £225,000 funding from Innovate UK in June this year.
Cataracts, the commonest cause of blindness worldwide, can only be cured by surgery and its main risk is postoperative inflammation that causes pain and, if left untreated, loss of vision. Currently, this is prevented with an intense administration of eye drops, potentially up to four times a day for a month in humans, and up to six times a day for three months in animals.
Over 400,000 cataract operations are carried out in humans in the UK annually, and aftercare is placing a burden of >£55M/year on NHS services. Similarly, 20,000 domestic animal cataract operations are performed each year, but the intensive schedule of treatment can be prohibitively expensive for owners, resulting in pets going without surgery and losing their sight unnecessarily. MEDILens’ ability to release anti-inflammatory drugs into the eye removes the need to administer eye drops whilst maintaining the properties of the lens. The product will change the lives of hundreds of thousands of cataract patients globally each year.
VisusNano CEO, Dr Joanna Gould, commented: “We are very excited to be entering our next phase of growth at Discovery Park. This expansion and the additional funding from Innovate UK will ensure that we can deliver our prototype for humans within the next few years.”
Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, commented: “We are delighted to welcome VisusNano to Discovery Park, and look forward to supporting the company’s growth and clinical progression of its ophthalmology products. The company joins Discovery Park at an exciting time, as we progress plans for our Incubator facility, due to open next year as the home for other exciting and innovative companies.”
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Notes to the Editor
VisusNano
VisusNano is a pre-clinical stage company developing a pipeline of exciting drug-eluting intraocular lens implant for use in patients undergoing cataract surgery. By improving patient outcomes, removing the need for eye drops after surgery, and avoiding the need for laser treatment after surgery, VisusNano’s technology has the potential to revolutionise cataract surgery in both the human and veterinary markets.
Contact:
Charlotte Connors on behalf of VisusNano
[email protected]
+44 (0)7712 149 283
www.visusnano.com
Medtech company VisusNano announces the opening of its 800 sq. ft facility at Discovery Park, the Life Sciences Opportunity Zone for ambitious and growing companies. The expansion will enable the rapid scale up of the company’s proprietary biodegradable intraocular lens, known as MEDILens. The drug-eluting lens is being developed to release anti-inflammatory drugs directly into the patients’ eye following cataract surgery.
The company has also received a £56,000 COVID-19 continuity grant from Innovate UK to ensure it maintains the accelerated pace of product development. This follows the £225,000 funding from Innovate UK in June this year.
Cataracts, the commonest cause of blindness worldwide, can only be cured by surgery and its main risk is postoperative inflammation that causes pain and, if left untreated, loss of vision. Currently, this is prevented with an intense administration of eye drops, potentially up to four times a day for a month in humans, and up to six times a day for three months in animals.
Over 400,000 cataract operations are carried out in humans in the UK annually, and aftercare is placing a burden of >£55M/year on NHS services. Similarly, 20,000 domestic animal cataract operations are performed each year, but the intensive schedule of treatment can be prohibitively expensive for owners, resulting in pets going without surgery and losing their sight unnecessarily. MEDILens’ ability to release anti-inflammatory drugs into the eye removes the need to administer eye drops whilst maintaining the properties of the lens. The product will change the lives of hundreds of thousands of cataract patients globally each year.
VisusNano CEO, Dr Joanna Gould, commented: “We are very excited to be entering our next phase of growth at Discovery Park. This expansion and the additional funding from Innovate UK will ensure that we can deliver our prototype for humans within the next few years.”
Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, commented: “We are delighted to welcome VisusNano to Discovery Park, and look forward to supporting the company’s growth and clinical progression of its ophthalmology products. The company joins Discovery Park at an exciting time, as we progress plans for our Incubator facility, due to open next year as the home for other exciting and innovative companies.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes to the Editor
VisusNano
VisusNano is a pre-clinical stage company developing a pipeline of exciting drug-eluting intraocular lens implant for use in patients undergoing cataract surgery. By improving patient outcomes, removing the need for eye drops after surgery, and avoiding the need for laser treatment after surgery, VisusNano’s technology has the potential to revolutionise cataract surgery in both the human and veterinary markets.
Contact:
Charlotte Connors on behalf of VisusNano
[email protected]
+44 (0)7712 149 283
www.visusnano.com