Industry Veteran to Accelerate Development of
Advanced Therapy Platform for Ocular Diseases
June 8, 2021 – Seattle and Boston – Greg Kunst has been named chief executive officer of newly-launched Aurion Biotech, whose mission is to cure blindness by developing a differentiated platform of advanced therapies to treat ocular diseases. The company’s first candidate is a cell therapy for the treatment of corneal endothelial disease, which affects millions of people worldwide, with symptoms that include blurred vision, glare, discomfort and pain. Invented by world-renowned ophthalmic surgeon and research scientist Professor Shigeru Kinoshita and his distinguished colleagues at Kyoto Prefecture University of Medicine (KPUM) in Japan, corneal endothelial cell therapy has demonstrated long-term efficacy in Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies in Japan.
“I am delighted to join Aurion Biotech because we have all the key ingredients for success—the best science, the best scientists and medical advisors, and the best backers,” said Greg Kunst. “Our lead candidate, in early research and Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies in Japan, has already demonstrated long-term, significant improvements in patients’ vision. I look forward to scaling up our team to pursue clinical development in the US and around the world, and to build a platform of transformational biotechnologies with the aim of restoring vision to all patients who need it.”
Greg has deep and varied experience in ophthalmic medical devices, drug delivery systems, diagnostics, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical products. His expertise spans global corporate development, strategy, health policy, marketing, commercialization, business development, market access and medical affairs. Before Aurion Biotech, Greg spent six years at Glaukos Corporation (NYSE: GKOS), where he led the worldwide marketing, market access, reimbursement, health economics and outcomes research, government affairs, and business development teams. During his tenure at Glaukos, Greg launched four new products and led the development for multiple ophthalmology device, pharmaceuticals and biologics candidates targeting corneal, glaucoma, and retinal diseases. Before Glaukos, Greg was global franchise director over the glaucoma surgery and retina pharmaceutical businesses at Alcon, a Novartis company. Before joining Alcon, Greg was the global head of market access at Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (Acelity Inc.) Greg is a member of the steering committee for the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Greg holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a BS in Economics from Brigham Young University.
“Greg’s achievements and experience have prepared him well for the opportunity at Aurion Biotech,” said Tom Frinzi, board chair. “I quickly realized he is the right person at the right time to lead this team, and I couldn’t be more pleased to have him accelerate the company’s growth and success.”
“Having backed numerous successful technologies in ophthalmology, I know that great people are every bit as important as are great products,” said Bill Link, general partner at Flying L Ventures, and board member. “With Greg at the helm, I’m excited for Aurion Biotech and its very bright future.”
About Aurion Biotech
Based in Seattle and Boston, Aurion Biotech is a clinical stage biotech company. Our mission is to cure leading forms of blindness and transform the lives of millions of patients, by developing a platform of advanced therapies. Our first candidate is for the treatment of corneal endothelial disease, and one of the first clinically validated cell therapies for corneal care. Healthy cells from a donor cornea are cultured in a novel, multi-step, proprietary and patented process. Cell lots manufactured from a single donor may be used to treat more than 100 recipient eyes. In early research and Phase 2 & Phase 3 clinical trials in Japan, patients have experienced long-term, significant improvements in key measures of corneal health: visual acuity, corneal endothelial cell density and corneal thickness. The Aurion Biotech team is preparing for clinical trials in the U.S. To learn more about Aurion Biotech, a division of CorneaGen Inc., visit www.aurionbiotech.com.
By Greg Kunst, CEO
Today we are pleased to launch Aurion Biotech, an exciting company with a bold mission: to develop a transformational platform of advanced therapies to cure blindness.
I’m not the kind of person who enjoys being the center of attention, but sharing my story will, I hope, help people understand just how exciting and transformational is our story of Aurion Biotech.
I’m an entrepreneur and a ‘builder’ at heart; I have boundless curiosity, and I like new challenges. I grew up in the polyglot of the San Francisco Bay Area. College, grad school and work have enabled me to live in Utah, France, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and now, Washington. Like many kids influenced by the careers of their parents, I came to ophthalmology by osmosis: my dad had a successful career in this industry. My earliest memories are of him and his colleagues and the joy they exuded in doing good work that was also doing good for others. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by diseases of the eye.
That early influence guided me to fantastic opportunities at CooperVision, Acelity, Alcon and most recently at Glaukos. Along the way, I’ve participated in the excitement of discovering and developing ground-breaking innovations, and I’ve had a central role in introducing multiple products to market that improve peoples’ lives. I realize how lucky I am.
When I learned about Aurion Biotech, I knew I wanted to be a part of this exciting story. Our parent company, CorneaGen, is admired throughout our industry for its innovations in cornea care. Last year, it in-licensed a novel cell therapy to treat corneal endothelial dystrophies, which was developed by one of the world’s most eminent scientists and researchers in ophthalmology, Professor Shigeru Kinoshita, and his distinguished colleagues at Kyoto Prefecture University of Medicine. To devote dedicated resources to further developing this product, CorneaGen established Aurion Biotech, which brings us to today’s launch news.
The name, Aurion, means “tomorrow” in Greek; we chose this name because it’s our hope that our innovations in advanced therapies will bring better tomorrows to patients suffering from blindness.
Our cell therapy procedure is one of the first clinically validated cell therapies in ophthalmology. While endothelial keratoplasties are well established as the standard of care for corneal endothelial disease, the limited availability of corneal tissue worldwide remains a huge challenge. With our corneal endothelial cell therapy, the cells from a single donor can be multiplied to treat up to 100 diseased eyes.
The success of this procedure in patients has already been documented in Professor Kinoshita’s scholarly contributions to New England Journal of Medicine, and to AAO Journal. We are honored and excited to continue clinical development here in the US (and the rest of the world).
And we are moving fast! Over the months to come, we will share more exciting milestones about Aurion Biotech. I hope you’ll be a part of our exciting story, as it unfolds.