Nanomerics closes Series A for its needle-free eye-drug platform
What's the deal? NanomericsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a London-based clinical-stage speciality pharmaceutical company, has closed a Series A round led by a German strategic investor, with the Silverstein Dream FoundationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → participating. The money will fund development of its two platform technologies and advance its ocular pipeline.
What's the endgame? The company's Molecular Envelope Technology (MET) is a clinical-stage, non-irritant ocular penetration enhancer that delivers drugs from an eye drop to both the front and back of the eye. Reaching the back without an injection could make treating retinal diseases like diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration less invasive.
MET underpins Nanomerics' lead ocular program, OC134, in development for allergic conjunctivitis and dry eye disease. The same technology delivers molecules to the brain via the nose, bypassing the blood-brain barrier, powering pipeline candidates in pain and childhood epilepsy. A second platform, METfect, handles non-viral gene delivery.
Why this backer? The Silverstein Dream Foundation framed its stake as a Program-Related Investment aligned with its mission. "Diabetic retinopathy represents one of the most serious complications of diabetes," said chief executive officer Patricia Silverstein, pointing to the burden of repeated eye injections that leaves many patients "difficult to treat consistently."
Chief investment officer Everett Kamin cited "the combination of mission alignment and investment asymmetry," noting Nanomerics is entering the round after much of its technology development and initial clinical de-risking is done. He added that the company "has been built unusually efficiently," historically funding itself through commercial activity rather than repeated equity rounds.
What the CEO says: The round "will enable Nanomerics to execute efficiently on its development strategy and bring to market the innovative medicines that ophthalmology patients desperately need," said chief executive officer Professor Andreas G. Schätzlein.
The signal: Investors increasingly back drug-delivery platforms that promise multiple shots on goal rather than a single asset. With MET spanning eye, brain, and gene-delivery applications, Nanomerics is pitching a technology that could pay off across several pipelines — and drawing mission-driven capital that sees needle-free retinal treatment as both a commercial and a public-health prize.
Read more: finanznachrichten.de
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
