RhyGaze raises $86 million to develop vision restoration gene therapy

Key takeaways:

• The novel gene therapy is aimed at optogenetic vision restoration in diseases causing blindness.
• The Series A financing will support a first-in-human clinical trial.

RhyGaze secured $86 million in a Series A financing round, which will be used to further the development of the company’s lead candidate gene therapy for optogenetic vision restoration, according to a press release.

GV led the financing round. Contributors included Arch Venture Partners and F-Prime Capital along with founding investors BioGeneration Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund.

The funding will support early activities for the gene therapy, including formal pharmacology and toxicology testing, assessment of potential clinical endpoints, and a first-in-human clinical trial to evaluate safety, tolerability and efficacy of the candidate.

RhyGaze was founded on intellectual property licensed by the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), according to the release.

“I look forward to partnering with colleagues at IOB to bring this novel gene therapy to patients, and I am excited about the team we are assembling to pursue this important goal,” Katherine High, MD, CEO of RhyGaze, said in the release. “RhyGaze will determine over the next few years whether the compelling data generated at IOB can translate to clinical outcomes. If that is true, this innovation will have a worldwide impact in improved therapeutics for blindness.”

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