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Last Updated : Jun 03 2024

BioLattice Ophthalmics, Inc.
BioLattice Ophthalmics, Inc.

The Opportunity: BioLattice Ophthalmics, Inc. is raising $2.0 Million to cure corneal blindness for patients around the world (Women, Minority, and Veteran Owned)

  • Enterprise
  • Opportunity

The Opportunity: BioLattice Ophthalmics, Inc. is raising $2.0 Million to cure corneal blindness for patients around the world (Women, Minority, and Veteran Owned)
 
Details: BioLattice is helping people with corneal blindness to see again. Globally, for every 70 patients in need of cornea only one receives it due to the perishability of donor cornea tissue. Sadly, those who can receive and tolerate donor cornea experience increased rejection rates over time, up to ~%50 by year 15. BioLattice is creating a better solution: a biocompatible off-the-shelf material to replace cloudy or mis-shaped cornea tissue. BioLattice’s engineered cornea would be customized to provide proper visual acuity, yield a natural postoperative aesthetic, be implanted using standard surgical procedures, and reduce the risk of immune rejection. To date, we have secured funding from NSF SBIR Phase 1 Grant, IndieBio NYC through SOSV Fund, AIZ PA Grant, Phirst Market Ventures, and Pitch Competitions in Philadelphia and Delaware. 
 
BioLattice is raising $2.0 Million to support 2025 US FDA filings and associated studies. For further information and investment inquiries, contact Linda Alunkal at alunkal@biolatticetech.com (Co-founder and COO).

Business profile
Primary contact
Linda Alunkal
Country of incorporation
United States
Headquarters
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Type of entity
C Corporation
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Minority owned, Women led, BIPOC
Launch year
2017
Team size
1-10
Sectors & themes
Health, Access to quality health care
Target regions
Asia Pacific, Central Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, South East Asia, Western Europe
Business highlights
  • - Awarded $274k NSF SBIR Phase 1 in December 2023
  • - Awarded $100k Academic Innovation Zone Award in March 2024
  • - $275k Investment from IndieBio in March 2024 (distributed through milestone payments)
  • - $80k 1st place prize at The Enterprise Center Pitch Competition in Oct 2023
  • - $10k 2nd place prize at Startup302 Pitch Competition in May 2024
  • - Start-up Stadium presenter at BIO International in June 2024
Sustainable Development Goals
 Good Health and Well-Being for People
Goal 3

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

  • Problem
  • Solution
  • Product / service
  • Projected impact
  • Traction
  • Business model
  • Market & competition
  • Vision & strategy

Problem

Globally almost 13 million are on a donor cornea tissue waiting list. Those who receive donor cornea tissue risk a 10% chance of implant failure within year 1; the chances of rejection rise to about 50% by year 15. Available artificial corneas are limited by risks including glaucoma, infection, detachment from the eye, and opacification.

Solution

CorneaClearTM is a substitute for donor cornea in penetrating keratoplasty (full thickness cornea replacement). It is being designed to look, function, and be surgically implanted like donor cornea with the enhanced ability to correct vision for the patient in one procedure. The technology is in the preclinical stage.

Product / service

Our engineered cornea presents these advantages: 1. Ability to fuse with the adjacent ocular tissue like donor cornea, 2. Closely matches the mechanical properties of donor cornea (possibly reducing the risk of glaucoma associated with current keratoprosthesis use), 3. Presents a natural aesthetic, and 4. Restores and corrects vision in one step. This is our competitive advantage to currently marketed keratoprosthesis solutions.

Projected impact

Artificial corneas can restore sight to millions. Worldwide, two million people per year suffer from blindness due to cornea damage or disease, and only one cornea is available for every 70 patients in need. A true alternative to donor cornea is currently not clinically available. Our innovation, CorneaClearTM aims at providing a true alternative to donor cornea, as it will have full ocular compatibility and will be implantable with the same techniques applied to implant donor cornea tissue. In addition, it will be stable at room temperature and will eliminate risks of immune graft rejection.
 

Traction

  • Our customer discovery data shows that corneal surgeons are open to using our engineered cornea if we demonstrate that it is at least as safe and effective as the standard of care: donor cornea.
  • We are on track to present in vivo proof of concept data by the end of 2024
  • Since Nov 2023, we have secured and received funds of approximately $500,000.

Business model

We are developing partnerships with potential technology licensees and multiple contract organizations (i.e. manufacturing, sales, and distribution) to market engineered cornea. Revenue generating strategies include 1) corporate co-development and sales and 2) BioLattice development through clinical trials followed by direct sales. We will influence sales with product demonstrations, conference presentations, and scientific publications.
 

Market & competition

There is no marketed equivalent to donor cornea for penetrating keratoplasty. Boston KPro Type 1, the leading KPro used in the US, is a last resort option for sight restoration and requires the use of donor cornea. As with multiple lesser used KPros, it is associated with glaucoma, infection, inflammation, extrusion and opacification. CorNeat KPro is in a clinical trial. It is a last resort option with a non-standard surgical procedure.
 
Our engineered cornea has two markets:
1. Patients who would benefit from a biocompatible cornea transplant material = approximately 100,000 annually receiving full thickness corneal replacement
2. Patients without access to cornea tissue = 13 million on corneal tissue waiting list
 

Vision & strategy

We will initiate sales in the USA, Canada and Europe. In those regions combined, 29,000 patients annually can use our device. Next, we will pursue sales in India and China where there are 7 and 2 million patients, respectively, who can use our device. Customers will be acquired via contracted marketing.

Leadership
Our story
BioLattice was founded by tissue engineer and pharmaceutical scientist Amelia Zellander, PhD, and Linda Alunkal, MBA,  who previously served in multiple commercialization and business transformation roles at Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices. Over a decade ago, Zellander began designing corneal replacements for her dissertation at the University of Illinois Chicago. She subsequently worked in R&D at Janssen. Today, Zellander and Alunkal are collaborating with corneal surgeons on an anatomically proper CorneaClear prototype to be used in animal trials in late 2024. Following FDA approval and clinical trials, BioLattice could help restore vision for the millions of people waiting on a solution – and then begin to engineer replacement tissues for other vulnerable organs.

We'd love to talk with you

 
Contact
Website
https://www.biolatticetech.com
Email address
alunkal@biolatticetechcom
Telephone
267-481-5423
Address
2929 Arch Street Floor 3, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States
Country
United States
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/biolattice/
Facebook
https://www.linkedin.com/company/biolattice/

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