Lake Forest-based eye device maker ReVision Optics Inc. has nabbed a large chunk of funding and is pushing ahead with gaining domestic approval and overseas expansion plans.
ReVision said last week that it raised $55 million in equity funding that it will use to seek Food and Drug Administration premarket approval for its Raindrop replacement eye lens and to commercialize the product outside the U.S.
The company now has raised a total of $125 million since its 1996 establishment, said Chief Executive John Kilcoyne.
Raindrop is implanted through a small, laser-created opening in a patient’s cornea. It is targeted to people 45 to 60 years old with presbyopia, a condition in which the eye loses its ability to focus close-up as it ages.
Johnson & Johnson Development Corp.―the venture capital arm of New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson―as well as RusnanoMedInvest, a Russian firm, were among new ReVision investors.
Other investors include Domain Associates, a venture capital firm with offices in San Diego and Princeton, N.J., and InterWest Partners, with offices in Menlo Park and Dallas.
Johnson & Johnson Development invested in ReVision because it is “an area of focus” for its parent company, said Ellen Rose, a company spokesperson, via e-mail.
J&J Development has invested in Orange County-based device makers in the past, including Arbor Surgical Technologies Inc., an Irvine-based heart valve maker; and Novocell Inc., which was based in Irvine and focused on developing stem cell therapies. Novocell changed its name to ViaCyte Inc. and eventually moved to San Diego.
J&J Development does not “speculate on the possibility of acquisition,” although it has acquired some companies it has invested in, Rose said.
“Value can also be derived through other successful exits or through other types of relationships such as licensing or further scientific collaboration,” she added.
Kilcoyne started with Johnson & Johnson Development in crediting the company’s backers.
“We have a great foundation of venture capitalists and investors that are already in the deal with Domain, ProQuest [Investments], Canaan [Partners] and InterWest, so we have blue-chip investors,” he said.
ReVision, which has 50 workers, has no “preordained” plans, such as an initial public offering or a sale to another company, according to Kilcoyne.
“Right now what we’re focused on is the weeks and months ahead. I think whether you look for an acquisition or an IPO, that’s a function of how well you execute between now and then,” he said, adding that if ReVision executes, “we will find success.”
Raindrop was previously known as Presbylens and Vue+.
The lens is approved for sales in Europe.
Kilcoyne declined to answer questions about ReVision’s revenue. He said Raindrop’s sales have been limited in Europe so far.
“We’re very specific on which countries we are going to and which surgeons we choose to work with within the last 12 months,” he said.
ReVision has completed work on its U.S. clinical trial for Raindrop and is now in the follow-up period.
The company is looking at 2016 for possible FDA approval and domestic introduction of Raindrop, Kilcoyne said.
ReVision, which was once known as IntraLens Vision Inc., plans to use a mix of direct salespeople and distributors for Raindrop. Ophthalmic surgeons will be the likely market for it.
“Whatever makes the most sense for us, we’ll choose that option,” Kilcoyne said, adding that, as an example, new investor RusnanoMedInvest will act as its Russian distributor.
Raindrop won’t be subject to the vagaries of insurance reimbursement when it launches.
“This is a private-pay, and that’s true anywhere in the world, not just the United States. This is a premium-channel private-pay product,” Kilcoyne said.
There are other companies in OC that are working on presbyopia treatments, including AcuFocus Inc. and PresbiTech Inc., both based in Irvine. And Abbott Medical Optics Inc., a Santa Ana-based unit of Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories, bought Irvine startup Visiogen Inc. and its Synchrony presbyopia-correcting lens nearly four years ago; Synchrony remains in development.
