NEW YORK – PulseSight Therapeutics on Wednesday launched as a new ophthalmology biotech company developing gene therapies for severe retinal diseases, with plans to advance two candidates for wet and dry age-related macular diseases into the clinic.
The Paris-based company has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funds from venture capital firms Pureos Bioventures, ND Capital, and Korea Investment Partners. As part of the financing, Dominik Escher, founding partner of Pureos Bioventures, and Kostas Kaloulis, venture partner at ND Capital, are joining PulseSight's board.
PulseSight is developing two late-stage preclinical candidates, PST-809 and PST-611, using its non-viral gene therapy platform, which uses an electro-transfection system to deliver DNA plasmids that encode for therapeutic proteins into the ciliary muscle. The platform has been validated in a Phase I/II trial. PulseSight is now amid a Series A financing round that will provide funds to advance these agents into clinical proof of concept.
The lead program, PST-809, is being developed as a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a retinal disorder caused by abnormal blood vessels stimulated by VEGF. The gene therapy contains a dual-gene plasmid that encodes for the anti-VEGF protein aflibercept and decorin, an anti-angiogenic and anti-fibrotic protein. PST-611, a potential treatment for geographic atrophy in late-stage dry AMD, contains a plasmid encoding for the protein transferrin that's involved with controlling iron levels in the eye.