ViaLase, Inc. has closed on Series C financing of an estimated $40 million to support its continued advancement of the ViaLase Laser.
Tell me more about this laser.
The ViaLuxe Laser System is designed to deliver tightly-focused, optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided femtosecond laser pulses throughout the cornea and across the anterior chamber to the iridocorneal angle.
The result: non-invasively creating a single channel (measuring 500 μm wide by 200 μm high) through the trabecular meshwork (TM) and into Schlemm’s canal.
And this enables…
Via femtosecond laser image-guided high-precision trabeculectomy (FLigHT), the system allows a surgeon to noninvasively create channels within the TM—without damaging adjacent tissue to potentially lower intraocular pressure (IOP).
Watch the video below.
Now let’s talk financing.
This latest round of fundraising was sourced from a new investor with support from the following current investors:
- Ventura Investors Health Fund
- Arboretum Ventures
- Falcon Vision, an ophthalmology-based investment platform supported by KKR, a global investment firm
How will it be used?
Per ViaLase: to support the company’s ongoing advancement, which includes the system’s clinical, regulatory, and commercial development.
According to ViaLase’s founder and CEO Tibor Juhasz, PhD, the company is planning to launch its latest development stage for the ViaLase Laser commercialization.
Gotcha. Back to this system; any clinical data on it?
Yes! The company previously conducted a prospective, single-center, non-randomized, 12-month study to determine the safety of the ViaLase Laser system using FLigHT (plus its potential IOP-lowering effect).
The first-in-human (FIH) study enrolled nine patients (15 eyes), all of whom were previously diagnosed with either OAG or ocular hypertension.
Each patient received a medication washout before receiving the FLigHT procedure.
And the findings so far?
We’ll go through these chronologically.
- March 2023: 12-month data reported (see here)
- Reduction in mean IOP at 12 months
- 100% of eyes did not need further IOP-lowering treatment after 1 year along with no evidence of scarring at the treatment site (via gonioscopy).
- April 2023: 24-month follow-up data reported (see here)
- Mean IOP reduced by 34.6%
- No serious adverse events (AE) related to treatment, with channels appearing and no evidence of closure (seen using gonioscopy and anterior segment OCT [AS-OCT])
Any upcoming trials to know about?
The company announced back in November 2023 that patient enrollment (n = 152) was completed for VIA-002, a randomized, multicenter study comparing the ViaLase Laser to selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) for patients with POAG.
And when might we hear about data on this?
No word as of yet… but definitely in 2024. Stay tuned!