Nano Retina Inc. could become the first Rainbow Medical Ltd. portfolio company to sign a strategic deal and demonstrate Rainbow's potential. Nano Retina is in talks on a contract worth tens of millions of dollars with a large European pharmaceutical company.
Nano Retina is developing an artificial retina to replace retinas damaged by glaucoma, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and other diseases.
Nano Retina's Bio-retina incorporates nano-size components in a tiny, flat implant that is implanted by a small incision and “gluing” of the device to the damaged retina, under local anesthesia. The sensors transform naturally received light into an electrical signal that stimulates the neurons, which send the pictures received by Bio-Retina to the brain.
The first-generation bionic retina replaces the damaged photoreceptor in the eye with the equivalent of a 600 pixel retinal implant, and the second generation implant is equivalent to 5,000 pixel.
Rainbow Medical founder Yossi Gross has marked up several successes in the ophthalmic sector, including Vision Care Inc's, which developed an implantable telescope for the eye for patients with AMD. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the telescope.
Rainbow Medical has a unique venture capital business model. Gross founded the company four years ago to support his companies.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 6, 2011
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