Eyedea Medical awarded competitive National Science Foundation Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant, Baltimore, MD

BALTIMORE, Feb. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eyedea Medical, a Baltimore-based medtech startup working to alleviate the burden of corneal blindness through innovative solutions in corneal transplantation and eye banking, has been awarded a $1,000,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant will provide additional support for the development and commercialization of its proprietary corneal tissue preparation devices, DescePrep™ and DesceCleave™. These novel devices allow for simple, efficient, and standardized separation of layers of the cornea in order to increase access to and adoption of vision-restoring corneal transplant techniques, including Descemet's Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK) and Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK).

Corneal blindness is devastating for patients, their families, and communities globally. Collectively, DescePrep and DesceCleave address key barriers for increased adoption of corneal transplant techniques that can treat 90% of individuals waiting for a corneal transplant. Providing better tools for DMEK and DALK will improve access to corneal transplant procedures and enable more patients to regain independence and productivity.

"Up to 30 million individuals are waiting for a corneal transplant despite corneal blindness being preventable or treatable in 95% of cases. Our team believes access to vision care is a human right, and we founded Eyedea Medical to create technologies to help eliminate avoidable blindness. The Phase II award validates our core technology platform and its potential to have a tangible impact on eye care," said Katie Solley, co-founder and CEO of Eyedea Medical.

The Phase II award builds off of a previous $225,000 NSF Phase I grant to de-risk the development of Eyedea Medical's first product, DescePrep™. The Phase II award aims to further validate DescePrep™ for use by eye banks and to adapt the core technology to an additional application in DALK surgery, with potential for broad global impact.

Eyedea Medical is a Baltimore-based, woman led, early stage medtech company building a pipeline of products to increase access and adoption of vision-restoring corneal transplant procedures. Eyedea Medical was founded by a group of biomedical engineers and ophthalmologists to leverage both technological and business model innovations to ensure that everyone has access to the best possible eye care regardless of the circumstances of their birth. For more information, please visit: https://www.eyedeamedical.com/

America's Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $2 million to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America's Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.

SOURCE Eyedea Medical, Inc