Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel Spinout RhyGaze Closes USD 86 Million Series A Round to Further Novel Gene Therapy for Vision Restoration

RhyGaze, a biotechnology company based in Basel, Switzerland and Philadelphia, Pa., USA, today announced that it has secured a Series A financing of USD 86 million. The round was led by GV (Google Ventures), alongside Arch Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital and founding investors BioGeneration Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund, who contributed USD 11 million to an earlier seed round.

RhyGaze was founded on intellectual property exclusively licensed to the company by the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), a scientific institute led by Director Botond Roska, M.D., Ph.D., who is a scientific co-founder of RhyGaze. This funding will enable further development of RhyGaze’s lead clinical candidate, a novel gene therapy for optogenetic vision restoration in diseases causing blindness. Activities to be supported include formal pharmacology and toxicology testing, a non-interventional, observational study to assess potential clinical endpoints in patient groups eligible for the therapy and a first-in-human clinical trial to test the safety, tolerability and potential efficacy of the lead candidate.

“This program exemplifies a key goal of IOB: combining our deep understanding of retinal biology and vision with breakthrough technologies to develop novel therapies for vision loss,” said Dr. Roska. Added Bence György, M.D., Ph.D., a group leader at the IOB, RhyGaze scientific co-founder and board member and Assistant Professor at the University of Basel: “We are excited to see this program moving forward because it uniquely presents the opportunity to restore high-resolution vision in blind patients.”

“I look forward to partnering with colleagues at IOB to bring this novel gene therapy to patients, and I am excited about the team we are assembling to pursue this important goal,” said Dr. Katherine High, CEO of RhyGazeand formerly co-founder, President and Head of R&D at Spark Therapeutics. “RhyGaze will determine over the next few years whether the compelling data generated at IOB can translate to clinical outcomes. If that is true, this innovation will have a world-wide impact in improved therapeutics for blindness.”

RhyGaze operates from Basel, Switzerland and Philadelphia, Pa., USA.

About RhyGaze
RhyGaze is a cutting-edge biotechnology company based in Basel, Switzerland, and Philadelphia, Pa., USA, focused on developing gene therapies for retinal diseases causing blindness. Founded on pioneering research from the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), RhyGaze aims to restore vision and transform the lives of patients worldwide. IOB scientists Drs. Botond Roska, Bence György and Charles Gubser are the scientific founders of RhyGaze. The name RhyGaze derives from the Basel-German word for the Rhein (Rhy), on the banks of which the IOB is located.

About IOB
At the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), basic researchers and clinicians work hand in hand to advance the understanding of vision and its diseases, and to develop new therapies for vision loss. IOB started its operations in 2018. The institute is constituted as a foundation, granting academic freedom to its scientists. Founding partners are the University Hospital Basel, the University of Basel and Novartis. The Canton of Basel-Stadt has granted the institute substantial financial support.

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