A new company specializing in advancing ophthalmic innovations has launched, bringing with it a “hub-and-spoke model” (we’ll explain that later) and a targeted global portfolio.
Its name: Eyexora.
First, talk about the people behind this company.
Headquartered in New York, Eyexora was co-founded by ophthalmic leaders, entrepreneurs, and drug developers with a collective 100+ years of industry experience.
Included on its executive board:
- Bill Link, PhD (chairman)
- Ophthalmology investor and entrepreneur; founder of Versant Ventures, AMO, and Flying-L Partners
- Theresa Heah, MD, MBA (vice chair, CEO, and co-founder)
- Former CEO of Paratus Sciences; global brand and marketing director at Bayer
- Welyn Bui, PharmD (president and chief operating officer)
- Jose Lora, PhD (chief scientific officer)
- Sam Backenroth (chief financial officer)
- Huan Sheng, MD, PhD (chief medical officer)
And its funding?
The private company’s seed funding was led by the Singapore-based ClavystBio, a life sciences investor in the therapeutics and digital health & medical technology sectors.
Now to the company’s purpose.
Eyexora is looking to develop integrated ophthalmology platforms designed to advance a “diversified” portfolio of anterior and posterior segment therapeutics and medical devices.
Specifically: Retina, anterior segment diseases, and cell therapy candidates, with the potential to expand into other “high-value markets” facing a significant unmet patient need (per the company).
How does it plan to do this?
This is where that aforementioned “hub-and-spoke” model comes in.
Quick refresh: This type of design allows a company to efficiently manage multiple therapeutic programs (subsidiaries) from a shared, centralized core.
- The hub is a central, operational platform or engine
- The spokes are the individual programs (drug candidates) that stem from the hub, with each targeting a different indication
Ideally: This model targets an accelerated development and commercialization path for multiple therapeutics with a reduced risk.
And in Eyexora’s case?
The company intends to resolve current “inefficiencies” of traditional drug development’s single-candidate programs by concentrating its scientific, clinical, regulatory, and commercial expertise into one shared hub that manages all its “subsidiaries.”
As for these subsidiaries: Each will house one of the company’s therapeutics or devices sourced from clinician-scientists and academic incubators.
- Notably: The programs will also feature a combination of “high-impact moonshots” and assets ready for clinical testing.
Do we know what these subsidiaries will be yet?
The company shared plans to open global subsidiaries to support its business model.
And on the portfolio front: Eyexora has reportedly already launched partnerships in Singapore and Europe by in-licensing its initial assets from the Singapore Eye Research Institute.
- No specific details on these assets (or those global subsidiaries) were provided.
Go on …
In speaking on Eyexora’s unique approach toward ophthalmic drug development, Dr. Heah noted that the traditional process has largely involved single-asset pipelines, “making innovation slow, costly, and high-risk.”
"Eyexora is built to change that by bringing the right structure, global partnerships, and deep domain expertise together to deliver transformative treatments faster, smarter, and at scale,” she stated.