Carl Zeiss Meditec, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, and Precise Bio, a regenerative medicine company advancing the use of bio-printed tissues and organs, have entered into a partnership to develop and commercialize fabricated corneal tissue for transplants in patients that require endothelial keratoplasty and natural lenticule transplants for treating keratoconus and vision correction.
Under the terms of the agreement, Carl Zeiss Meditec will invest in Precise Bio and fund the further development of Precise Bio’s two cornea transplant products and has exclusive worldwide commercialization rights for these products. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“This investment in Precise Bio is expected to complement our leading portfolio of cataract and corneal refractive workflow solutions,” said Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D., President of Ophthalmic Devices and Head of the Digital Business Unit for Carl Zeiss Meditec. “The technology has the potential to advance treatment options for corneal disease, as well as for elective procedures – furthering enabling optimization of patient care.”
Manufacturing on Demand
“We are very excited with this partnership that builds on our successful, ongoing collaboration with ZEISS for the development of corneal tissues to address unmet needs in the field of ophthalmology,” said Aryeh Batt, Co-founder, and CEO of Precise Bio. “This strategic agreement leverages ZEISS’ global leadership in ophthalmology and Precise’s innovative and unique 4D bio-fabrication platform technology. We are confident that the synergy between the two companies will allow us to develop breakthrough solutions for recovering patients’ eyesight, bringing hope to hundreds of millions of patients worldwide.”
Precise Bio combines engineering, biomaterials, cell technology, bioengineering, and 3D printing into a 4D bio-fabrication platform for transplantable organs and tissues. The company’s proprietary platform technology allows to fabricate tissues by ‘printing’ cells in a single-cell resolution and spatial accuracy, enabling complex organoid constructs with both structural integrity and long-term cell viability. Overcoming multiple technology challenges, Precise Bio’s 4D bio-fabrication technology allows to reliably scale up tissue engineering for clinical use, and produce large quantities in a reproducible, quality-controlled, and cost-effective process. Precise Bio’s ophthalmological pipeline consists of three products – the two cornea products that are the subject of the collaboration with Carl Zeiss Meditec and a retinal implant for age-related macular degeneration, all of which demonstrated successful results in animal models.
Bio-fabricated tissues comprised of human cells and natural materials, mimicking the anatomical structure and natural tissue components, can replace damaged or diseased tissue, substitute for donor tissue in cases where there is a lack of tissue, or solve unmet therapeutic needs.
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Author: Edward Wakefield
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