Corneal Disease/Ocular Disease

There is a significant unmet need in the treatment of corneal endothelial disease Corneal endothelial disease is a serious and potentially debilitating condition, affecting millions of people throughout the world. What is corneal endothelial disease?

The corneal endothelium is a single layer of cells located on the posterior of the eye’s cornea. A healthy cornea is essential for vision
Typically, an adult cornea has a density of about 3,000 endothelial cells/mm8 in its central area
Corneal endothelial cells may degrade and are lost with age or as a result of diseases, such as:

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Corneal endothelial cells do not naturally regenerate; when lost, they are gone forever.

As endothelial cell loss worsens:

The remaining cells can spread to cover the exposed portions of the cornea to maintain visual function
However, as corneal endothelial cells enlarge and as density decreases to 400 cells/mm2 or fewer, the remaining cells may be unable to keep the cornea dry and maintain functional vision
Corneal edema (swelling) may occur, with associated vision loss
In addition, epithelial edema may occur, which can result in a painful, debilitating foreign body sensation in the eye

Until now, the only effective treatments for corneal endothelial disease involve corneal transplantation or endothelial keratoplasty, surgical procedures that replace diseased or damaged corneas with healthy corneal tissue.

While these surgical procedures have proven effective, they require healthy donor corneas in a 1:1 ratio (one healthy donor cornea to treat each diseased cornea). The global supply of donor corneas cannot address the need caused by corneal endothelial disease