InnFocus

About InnFocus

InnFocus Inc. operates within the medical device sector, specifically targeting the ophthalmology market with a solution for glaucoma treatment. The company was established in 2004, with its headquarters originally in Miami, Florida. The core of its business revolves around the InnFocus MicroShunt, a medical implant designed to lower and sustain intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. This condition is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, creating a significant patient population for such a device.

The InnFocus MicroShunt is a drainage implant that helps shunt aqueous humor from the anterior chamber of the eye to a flap created under the conjunctiva, effectively creating a new drainage pathway to manage eye pressure. The device itself is a slender tube, 8.5 mm long with a 70-micron lumen, constructed from a highly biocompatible material called poly(styrene-block-isobutylene-block-styrene), or SIBS. This material is intended to minimize tissue reaction and inflammation, a common issue with other glaucoma drainage devices. The surgical procedure to implant the MicroShunt is designed to be less invasive than traditional trabeculectomy, which is a more complex and higher-risk surgery.

A significant milestone in the company's history was its acquisition by the Japanese pharmaceutical and medical device company Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in August 2016. Santen acquired InnFocus for an upfront payment of $225 million, with additional performance-based payments tied to future regulatory and commercial milestones. This acquisition provided Santen with a key late-stage product to strengthen its glaucoma portfolio. At the time of the acquisition, the MicroShunt was in late-stage clinical trials in both the U.S. and Europe, aiming for regulatory approval.