Lausanne, Switzerland, 10 December 2020. Rheon Medical SA announced today that it has raised CHF 5.6 million in a Series C financing round. The proceeds will be used for expanding the commercial activities in Europe as well as for launching the FDA approval process.
The new financing was led by prominent private Swiss and UK-based investors. Rheon’s current shareholders also participated in the round. François Burnand joins the board of directors as a representative of the lead investors.
“This round marks an important step in the development of Rheon. We are reinforcing our commercial expansion in Europe and other key markets and we are starting our FDA process. Based on our outstanding clinical results, we are very confident that we are offering to glaucoma patients the best possible care today. We are looking forward to bringing the eyeWatch technology to more patients worldwide.” said Nikos Stergiopulos CEO of Rheon Medical.
Thomas Zehnder, Chairman of Rheon Medical and Partner of BlueOcean Ventures SA added “We are very pleased to welcome François Burnand, a seasoned entrepreneur and business coach with a strong financial background, who has a passion to facilitate and accelerate the success of teams.”
About the eyeWatch system
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness affecting more than 75 million people worldwide. Glaucoma is most often due to an increase of intraocular pressure (IOP), which may result in damage of the optic nerve and, if untreated, in vision loss. Aqueous shunts (glaucoma drainage devices) have been increasingly used to lower IOP and they are now considered by many to be the first-line surgical intervention. Presently marketed shunts exhibit post-surgical complications at a fairly high rate and often lead to surgical failures, a significant part of which can be attributed to the lack of IOP control. The eyeWatch™ system is a unique ocular implant, which together with its external control device allows tight control over intraocular pressure. Its unique pressure control leads to better and safer therapy. The eyeWatch has received regulatory clearance (CE mark) in Europe in 2019.
About Rheon Medical SA
Rheon Medical is a privately held Swiss medical device company, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Rheon Medical specializes in the field of glaucoma surgery and, in specific, in glaucoma drainage devices (GDD). Its mission is to provide optimal solutions to the surgical therapy of glaucoma. Rheon Medical is ISO 13485 certified.