Cirrus Therapeutics raises $14.7M seed for eye gene therapy

What's the deal? Cirrus Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based ocular immunology biotech, has expanded its seed round to $14.7 million to date, adding Cedars-Sinai's Intellectual Property Company to an investor syndicate that already includes ClavystBio, Polaris Partners, and SEEDS, the investment arm of SG Growth Capital.

Alongside the financing, Cirrus announced a research collaboration with the Duke-NUS Medical School 's Centre for Vision Research and the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), the research arm of the Singapore National Eye Centre, to support research, clinical development and partnering activities in ocular disease.

Cirrus' lead program is a preclinical adeno-associated virus (AAV) ocular gene therapy designed to restore IRAK-M, an immune regulator expressed in retinal cells, with the aim of reversing an underlying cause of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and preventing progression to geographic atrophy (GA). A second, earlier-stage program is a next-generation RPE cell therapy for patients with center-involving GA.

"We are taking methodical steps to build an ocular immunology company that delivers global impact," said Ying Kai Chan , PhD, CEO and co-founder of Cirrus. The company, co-founded with Andrew Dick , also has UK science origins via the University of Bristol and a Singapore R&D site established in partnership with A*STAR earlier in 2026.

Read more: GlobeNewswire · BioSpace