San Diego oph­thalmic biotech up­start rais­es $28M on al­ter­na­tive to corneal trans­plant

Texas VC Bios Part­ners has found a new ear­ly-stage play to love out of San Diego, lead­ing a $28 mil­lion Se­ries A to help Tre­foil Ther­a­peu­tics make the leap to the clin­ic.

Stel­la Robert­son, who head­ed R&D at No­var­tis’ eye care unit Al­con be­fore co-found­ing Bios Part­ners, is par­tic­u­lar­ly ex­cit­ed about this one. With a tech plat­form that en­gi­neers fi­brob­last growth fac­tor-1 pro­tein (FGF-1), Tre­foil is out to tack­le se­ri­ous corneal en­dothe­lial dis­eases and ep­ithe­lial dis­or­ders by prompt­ing the en­dothe­lial cells to flour­ish and mi­grate. Ul­ti­mate­ly — if the pre­clin­i­cal da­ta hold up — the goal is to en­hance heal­ing and re­verse vi­sion loss.

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