Eyestem, a Bengaluru-based cell therapy company, has raised funding from Endiya Partners, a venture capital fund that focuses on investing in firms in technology, healthcare and life sciences.

“This funding will help us in scaling up our operations and creating affordable cell therapies,” Jogin Desai, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eyestem, said.

“This investment will enable Eyestem to develop a treatment for Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (Dry AMD), a leading cause of incurable blindness affecting almost 17 crore people in the world,” he said.

“There are 1.5 to 4 crore people suffering from Dry AMD 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,” he said.

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.

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.

“I am looking forward to our clinical trials, scheduled towards early 2022, which will bring us closer to solving this global problem,” Desai said.

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