More than a million people experience corneal opacity every year. In its most severe cases, it can lead to blindness. There are already a few possible treatments of varying effectiveness, and now it looks like one more could be on the way. An Indian biotech company by the name of Pandorum Technologies has secured funding to put its new therapy through human trials.
Corneal opacity is the term for when your normally transparent cornea (the part of the eye that covers your iris and pupil) becomes clouded, usually due to scarring. Other potential causes include congenital defects and various medical conditions. Corneal opacity may cause blurred vision or glare. It’s also responsible for around 4% of annual cases of blindness around the world.
Treatments for corneal opacity include corneal transplants or replacement with an artificial cornea. Corneal tattooing can be used to cover the clouded appearance. Pandorum is taking a different approach. Instead of finding or creating a new cornea, it hopes to regenerate the old one. If the therapy works as planned, it could take less than a year to restore the cornea to full health.
Dr. Tuhin Bhowmick, the CEO of Pandorum Technologies, describes the treatment as a combination of “proprietary biomaterials with regenerative nanotherapy, guiding the formation of a functional corneal tissue”. Pandorum has christened its product “Kuragenx” and considers it a type of “liquid cornea”.
Pre-clinical trials have already been conducted, and they showed positive results. Human trials are the next step, and they’re definitely going to be helped by the $11 million in pre-Series B funding that it has so far managed to acquire.
There are some big names among the investors, including Ashish Kacholia and Bandana Kankani, in addition to Acebright Pharma and Everest Finance Investment. That’s on top of the previous support from Sunil Kant Mujal and the Indian Angel Network. First, the plan is to negotiate the manufacturing and regulatory process, then hopefully people will be able to receive their first doses in 2025.
Pandorum is a global company with its main base in Bengaluru, India, but with other offices and labs in the San Francisco Bay Area. It hopes that this funding and research will allow it to support the development of not just Kuragenx, but also other regenerative technologies that could be used to heal the lungs, liver or even the brain.
