GelMEDIX, Inc., a biotechnology company developing regenerative therapies to restore vision, announced today the completion of a $13 million seed financing led by Safar Partners, with participation from HTL Biotechnology, Beacon Angels, TiE Boston Angels, Boston Harbor Angels, and other investors. GelMEDIX will apply the proceeds to advance the company’s lead program, GMX-101, a retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell therapy to treat late-stage Geographic Atrophy (GA).
GA is a progressive, advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (dAMD) that causes permanent, irreversible central vision loss. The financing will also support the continued development and validation of GelMEDIX’s proprietary injectable hydrogel scaffold platform, which is engineered to optimize the delivery, efficacy, and safety of cell and gene therapies. Michael J. Cima, PhD, David H. Koch Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Parinaz Motamedy, MBA, Partner, Safar Partners, were appointed to the GelMEDIX Board of Directors in connection with the financing.
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Along with the financing, GelMEDIX announced its first strategic collaboration agreement with a global pharmaceutical company. Under the terms of the agreement, GelMEDIX will provide its hydrogel scaffold technology, which the partner will use in combination with several of its own cell lines to develop stem cell derived cell therapies. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We are deeply grateful to our investors for recognizing the transformative potential of GelMEDIX’s regenerative therapy approach, and we’re thrilled to welcome our first strategic partner, further validating our breakthrough technology,” said Max Cotler, PhD, CEO of GelMEDIX. “Geographic Atrophy is a leading cause of irreversible blindness in adults over the age of 60, with no treatments available that can restore vision.
While RPE therapies have shown promise, they often provide only moderate vision improvement in a subset of patients and present fundamental limitations that reduce efficacy, including poor cell survival and poor integration of transplanted cells, as well as increased safety risks that can lead to further vision loss. With the support of our investors and partners, GelMEDIX is positioned to innovate vision-restoring therapies that overcome these barriers.”
GelMEDIX regenerative therapies are based on the company’s proprietary next-generation hydrogel scaffold technology, which is engineered to improve the functional replacement and integration of therapeutic cells and the delivery of gene therapies. The platform uses chemically modified natural polymers to create a hydrogel that mimics the material properties of natural human tissue, providing a scaffold for cell adhesion, growth, and tissue engineering. The hydrogel is initially injected in liquid form and then light-activated to form a solid, biocompatible, and biodegradable scaffold at the target site.
The technology protects cells during injection, localizes them to the target site, and provides a structure that promotes tissue regeneration while improving cell therapeutic function. The hydrogel is engineered to degrade naturally over time as it is replaced by the body’s newly formed tissue. GelMEDIX’s lead program, GMX-101, is engineered to restore vision and stop disease progression in patients with late-stage GA by replacing damaged or dysfunctional RPE cells in the retina. The process involves injecting
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