Pantheon Vision has signed a deal with Eyedeal Medical to advance the manufacturing of its corneal implants for treating corneal blindness.
Under the partnership, the companies will collaborate on the production and commercialisation of Pantheon’s bioengineered corneal implants.
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The early-stage company’s corneal implants are intended to reduce the burden of corneal blindness by providing an alternative treatment option to corneal transplants (keratoplasty), in which damaged tissue is replaced with a healthy donor cornea.
Keratoplasty has long been considered the gold standard approach to treating corneal blindness. However, issues remain, including donor availability, the potential of graft rejection, bacterial keratitis infection occurring during or after surgery, and improper healing post-transplant, which can lead to other eye disorders such as astigmatism.
Pantheon president and CEO John Sheets called the agreement with Eyedeal a “critical step” for the company in advancing its mission to develop a bioengineered corneal solution to treat and restore vision for people around the world.
Sheets added that the company was “extremely optimistic” that the partnership would lead to solutions that provide meaningful benefits to patients.
Regarding Pantheon’s implants, Eyedeal Medical founder and CEO Guo Guangxu said: “This innovation, upon commercialisation, will fundamentally eliminate the need for corneal donations while bringing new hope to global patients requiring corneal transplantation.”
Since being established in 2023, Pantheon has raised around $4.3m through a combination of seed and private placement financing. Last year, the US startup completed two pre-submission meetings with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Calling them “successful and productive”, Pantheon said it requested the meetings to obtain guidance on the preclinical and clinical work required to advance the premarket approval submission required for its implants.
A third meeting with the FDA occurred in January 2025, with Pantheon stating that the conversations in this meeting centred on the design and bioengineered materials of its corneal implants – a factor Sheets called ‘essential steps’ before it moves into its next phase.
Corneal blindness refers to a group of eye disorders that change the corneal transparency and lead to blindness. The condition affects around 13 million people globally and is most prevalent in developing nations.
A preventable condition, corneal blindness often stems from infections, injuries, or inflammatory conditions that lead to scarring and loss of transparency (corneal opacity). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), corneal blindness is the fourth-leading cause of blindness globally, behind cataracts, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration.
