BOSTON, Nov. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Today, Adaptilens announced a $1.6 million seed funding led by Pillar VC with additional participation from Accanto Partners to fund the company’s development of an innovative accommodating intraocular lens with the aim of allowing patients to live their lives free of glasses and contact lenses.
The company’s mission is to restore patients’ sight to a youthful, natural, continuous range of vision. Adaptilens’ flexible intraocular lens mimics the natural human lens, giving patients clear near, intermediate, and distance vision, by allowing the eye’s ciliary muscles to change the implanted lens’ shape, so that the eye can focus at a range of distances naturally.
Initially, the AdaptilensTM will be used for patients undergoing cataract surgery. According to the National Eye Institute, by 2050, the number of people with cataracts in the U.S. is expected to double from 24.4 million to approximately 50 million.* Each year, doctors in the U.S. perform about 4 million cataract surgeries, typically removing the cataractous lens and replacing it with a flat, monofocal lens that allows the patient to see clearly at distance or near, but not both.** This leaves many patients still dependent on glasses, a nuisance and risk for the patient. Adaptilens aims to solve this problem by developing a shape-changing, accommodating intraocular lens that allows patients to see clearly at multiple distances.
“Adaptilens is delighted to be partnering with Pillar and Accanto. We’re confident that with their strength and resources, we will be able to advance our technology rapidly and efficiently so that we can improve the quality of life for millions of people,” says Dr. Liane Clamen, Adaptilens’ Founder and CEO. “For decades, doctors have been replacing nature’s full, flexible lens with a flat, stiff lens. We are determined to provide a better solution by developing a flexible lens that lets the eye’s muscles of accommodation naturally change its shape, and allow people to see clearly at near, intermediate, and far distances.”
While this innovative lens will initially be used for patients with cataracts, the AdaptilensTM could also be used to correct the vision of patients with a variety of refractive errors. For example, the AdaptilensTM could be used for patients with presbyopia, which is the loss of near vision caused by decreased elasticity of the eye’s lens, typically occurring in middle age. Patients with presbyopia could achieve spectacle independence with the AdaptilensTM.
“The biggest challenge in solving age-related loss of near vision has been the difficulty of creating a lens that will respond to the eye’s natural signal to focus. We are developing a unique solution to maintain a person’s ability to see clearly and naturally at both distance and near by regaining intrinsic accommodation,” says Dr. Bonnie Henderson, Adaptilens Co-developer and Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Adaptilens team to bring their innovative corrective eye technology to market,” says Jamie Goldstein, Founder and Partner at Pillar VC. “At Pillar, we look to support visionary technologies, which applies here in more ways than one. The Adaptilens technology accomplishes this through their innovative intraocular lens that mimics the natural lens, something not achieved by current corrective eye surgeries.”
The inspiration for the AdaptilensTM came when Dr. Clamen was asked to write a textbook chapter about the history of the intraocular lens. After exhaustively researching artificial lenses, Dr. Clamen discovered that no one had succeeded in developing a lens that truly imitated the natural lens. Seeing a huge opportunity for an unmet need among the visually impaired, Dr. Clamen partnered with renowned materials scientists to develop a new material that would allow for the development of a true, shape-changing, accommodating lens.
To find out more about Adaptilens please visit: https://adaptilens.com
*https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/resources-for-health-educators/eye-health-data-and-statistics/cataract-data-and-statistics
**https://idataresearch.com/over-3-8-million-cataract-surgeries-performed-every-year/
About Adaptilens:
Adaptilens was founded in 2019 by Harvard-trained ophthalmologist Dr. Liane Clamen. The company’s mission is to revolutionize the way vision is corrected by developing an accommodating intraocular lens that mimics the natural human lens so that patients will have excellent near, intermediate, and distance vision without the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses. To find out more about Adaptilens please visit: https://adaptilens.com
About Pillar VC:
Pillar VC is a seed-stage venture firm in Boston co-founded by 22 CEOs, including the leaders of Ginkgo Bioworks, Iora Health, Cytyc, DraftKings, and Wayfair. The firm’s investments include PillPack, Desktop Metal, Kuebix, Algorand, Asimov, and PathAI, among others. Pillar believes that the strongest relationships start from a position of trust, and that VC doesn’t have to be the dark side. The firm aligns with founders by providing resources and support, and by offering to buy common stock –– the very same type of stock founders own. To find out more about Pillar VC please visit: http://www.pillar.vc
About Accanto Partners:
Accanto Partners LLC invests selectively in promising tech startups. Based in Tiburon, CA, Accanto was founded by successful entrepreneurs and executives formerly with Sonic Solutions, an early leader in digital media technologies that was acquired by Rovi (now Tivo) in 2011. Given Accanto’s roots, the company prides itself on the entrepreneurial viewpoint it brings to each of its investments. Accanto generally invests in a startup’s first professional financing round, aims to provide thoughtful support to founders as they grow their companies, and in most cases participates as well in all subsequent funding rounds. To find out more about Accanto Partners please visit: http://www.accantopartners.com
Media Contact
Allyson Noonan, Adaptilens, +1 8582457256, [email protected]
SOURCE Adaptilens
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