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Aurion Biotech Wins ASCRS Eyecelerator Award

Innovation in Ophthalmology Award Given to Most Promising Companies at Annual American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Meeting

April 21, 2022 – Seattle, Boston and Tokyo – Aurion Biotech, whose mission is to restore vision to millions of patients with its life-changing regenerative therapies, today announced it has received “best in show” for cornea innovators at the ASCRS Eyecelerator conference, which inaugurates the annual American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting, held this year in Washington, DC. This is the second consecutive “best in show” honor awarded to the Company. Previously, at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Eyeclerator conference held in November 2021, Aurion Biotech also won “best in show” for cornea innovation.

“Eyecelerator is a terrific way to launch ASCRS, because it shines a spotlight on innovations that have the potential to drive dramatic improvements to patients’ lives,” said Edward Holland, MD, chair of the ASCRS program committee and chair of Aurion Biotech’s medical advisory board. “It’s why I’m so pleased for Aurion Biotech to win this award; they are now one important step closer to bringing profound improvements to patients suffering from corneal endothelial diseases.” 

Aurion Biotech’s first candidate is a cell therapy for the treatment of corneal edema secondary to endothelial dysfunction, developed by world-renowned ophthalmic surgeon and research scientist Professor Shigeru Kinoshita and his colleagues at Kyoto Prefecture University of Medicine (KPUM) in Japan. The Company acquired this technology in 2020. Aurion Biotech is currently preparing to submit a J-NDA for market approval in Japan, and an IND to initiate clinical trials in the US.

“We are delighted to have again earned this prestigious award,” said Greg Kunst, chief executive officer at Aurion Biotech. “This recognition is an acknowledgement of the transformational potential of our therapy to restore vision to millions of patients suffering from corneal endothelial blindness, and of the rapid progress we are making to bring this ground-breaking technology to patients in need.”

The Eyecelerator “Best in Show” award comes on the heels of Aurion Biotech’s announcement that it has raised $120 million, in a financing led by Deerfield Management, Petrichor Healthcare Capital Management, Flying L Partners, Falcon Vision, an ophthalmology-focused investment platform supported by KKR, and Visionary Ventures, a leading ophthalmology-focused venture fund creating value with better insight.

Aurion Biotech intends to use the proceeds of this financing to advance its cell therapy program for corneal edema secondary to endothelial dysfunction, which affects approximately 16 million people in the US, Europe and Japan[1].  

About Aurion Biotech

Based in Seattle, Boston and Tokyo, Aurion Biotech is a clinical-stage biotech company. Our mission is to restore vision to millions of patients with our life-changing regenerative therapies. Our first candidate is for the treatment of corneal edema secondary to endothelial dysfunction, and is 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. Cells manufactured from a single donor can treat more than 100 recipient eyes. In clinical trials in Japan, patients have experienced significant and durable improvements in key measures of corneal health: visual acuity, corneal endothelial cell density and central corneal thickness. To learn more about Aurion Biotech, visit www.aurionbiotech.com.

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