Eye Moonshot - Cornea

The RegMed XB Eye Moonshot - Cornea is an initiative focused on restoring vision through innovative advanced therapy medical products. This multi-year project relies on the collaboration of researchers, companies, a health foundation, and government agencies to achieve its goals.

About the Eye Moonshot – Cornea

The cornea is the clear outer anterior layer of the eye. A healthy cornea is transparent and allows light to pass into the eye. The endothelium forms the back of the cornea and is one cell layer thick. The endothelial cells in this layer regulate the inflow and outflow of fluid, keeping the cornea clear.

The challenge

The corneal endothelium can be damaged by ageing, disease, or trauma. When endothelial cells are lost, fluid can accumulate in the cornea, making it thicker and less transparent, which impairs vision. The standard of care is a corneal transplant, an operation to remove all or part of a damaged cornea and replace it with healthy donor tissue. However, globally, an estimated 13 million patients cannot be treated due to a shortage of donor tissue. Traditional corneal transplants also come with complications in both the short and long term, such as graft failure and less favorable outcomes for re-transplantations.

Our solution

In the RegMed XB Cornea Moonshot, we will go beyond state-of-the-art to solve the problem of donor tissue shortage by differentiating stem cells into corneal endothelial cells and developing a carrier with the aim to support targeted cell delivery. With this work, we aim to generate a stem cell–based therapy that could replace endothelial keratoplasty to make vision-saving therapy more accessible.

Advantages

• Reduces dependency on donor tissue.
• Unlimited supply off the shelf.
• Potentially fewer complications and higher success rates than traditional transplants.

Partners and collaboration

The project is carried out in close collaboration with various partners cross borders, including health funds and patient representatives, research institutes and clinicians, companies and government institutions. All involved parties are working together to accelerate the development and application of this innovative advanced cell therapy medical product.