Medtech start-up company VisusNano has been awarded £1.39 million in non-dilutive funding from the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst programme to further develop MEDILens, a drug-eluting intraocular lens implant (IOL), for use in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

The funding will allow the team at VisusNano to test the safety and efficacy of MEDILens in humans, the next step getting the product to market.

VisusNano has received match funding from Discovery Park Ventures and Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION) Ltd as well as follow-on investment from the original investors.  This commercial funding forms part of an A round of £1.5 million and will close in the second quarter.

Cataract is the most common cause of treatable blindness worldwide and is treated with surgery, but with risk of postoperative inflammation that causes pain and, if left untreated, loss of vision. Currently, inflammation is prevented with administration of eye drops for up to a month, with significant cost to the health economy and opportunity cost to patients’ relatives.

Over 400,000 cataract operations are carried out in the UK annually, and aftercare is placing a burden of more than £55 million per year on NHS services. Independent market research conducted by VisusNano has shown a desire from both cataract surgeons and patients to use a drug-eluting implant to eliminate the need for these cumbersome post-operative eye drop regimens. MEDILens’ ability to release anti-inflammatory drugs into the eye removes the need to administer eye drops.

VisusNano CEO, Dr Joanna Gould, said: “We are thrilled to receive the highly competitive Biomedical Catalyst funding from Innovate UK. We look forward to utilising these additional funds to accelerate the pre-clinical development of the technology and performing the first in human studies that are a critical step in the overall approval pathway. Thanks are also due to Discovery Park Ventures and OION for their support.”