While the coronavirus is raging, people are still contracting other diseases, and medical companies are still trying to heal them. Everads Therapy, founded on the basis of in invention by ophthalmologist Dr. Ygal Rotenstreich, head of the Electrophysiology Clinic and Retinal Research Laboratory at the Goldschleger Eye Institute of Sheba Medical Center, has signed a commercialization option agreement for its device for injecting drugs into the back part of the eye via the suprachoroidal space. The name of the other company in the agreement, which markets drugs for ophthalmological diseases with a potential market in the billions of dollars, was not disclosed, nor was the price of the deal.
Everads will receive an advance and payments for milestones. If the product is integrated with the other company's drug and the cocktail reaches the market, Everads will receive a proportion of the other company's revenue from the drug. The other company will pay the cost of developing the product. Under the agreement, the other company received exclusivity for a number of uses for a syringe, while Everads is continuing its development independently for other indications.
Everads’ founders are Rotenstreich; Dr. Ifat Sher, head of the restorative retinal research laboratory at Sheba Medical Center; and medical devices company DALI, which develops solutions for injecting drugs. Dali has already brought a syringe to a deal with a large company for use with a bestselling drug. Everads COO Hagay Drori, a former product manager at DALI, says, "The company founders came to us in order to cooperate with us in development of the syringe, and as part of this cooperation, I eventually switched to working with them."
Drugs targeting the retina can help treat various retinal diseases, including dry AMD, wet AMD, and other diabetic degenerative retinal diseases. In order to reach the retina, current drugs are commonly injected into the globe (the vitreous) of the eye, or, sub-retinally in the rear part of the eye. When they are injected through the front part of the eye, the full amount does not reach the targeted tissue, and sometimes causes damage to other tissues.
Everads executive chairman Moshe Weinstein says, "Subretinal administration is a complicated matter and requires surgery, and is often accompanied by significant safety risks. Suprachoroidal injection done via Everads’ device potentially alleviates these risks."
The device developed by Everads contains a sharp needle that is slightly inserted into the front part of the eye, where it is less dangerous to make injections. A blunt component is extended through the needle once inside the eye. When the blunt component is extended towards the rear part of the eye, it separates tissues, without penetrating them. This creates a channel from the middle of the eye, and the drug is injected through this channel. The channel is gradually closed by pressure within the eye. The process turns a complicated injection into the rear of the eye into a less complicated injection into the front of the eye. The blunt separator's circumference is less than one millimeter.
Weinstein says that Evards's main competitor is Clearside BIO, listed on Nasdaq with a $76 million market cap. The company has an agreement with Bausch & Lomb, one of the leading ophthalmological companies. Clearside's technology, however, differs slightly from that of Everads.
Everads was founded in 2017 in the RAD BioMed incubator, after obtaining a license from Sheba Medical Center's commercialization company.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 18, 2020
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