Healome Therapeutics secures £2m in oversubscribed seed round to advance eye drop technology

Healome Therapeutics has closed a £2 million oversubscribed seed financing round led by Empirical Ventures, with participation from DEBRA Research, Cure EB, Oshen Bio, and existing investor SFC Capital.

Healome Therapeutics is developing a technology that aims to transform the current standard of care in eye drop-based treatment. Conventional eye drops clear from the surface of the eye in minutes. This drives dosing regimens that can be as high as 20 times a day, which is particularly cumbersome for patients using eye drops for long-term (chronic) conditions. Healome’s proprietary eye-drop matrix behaves like a liquid when it is dropped on the eye, and then restructures on the eye to form a clear, lubricating, protective matrix which can deliver a broad range of drugs, from small molecules to complex biologics.

The financing will support continued preclinical development, manufacturing scale-up, regulatory engagement and progression toward first-in-human studies, which are expected in 2027.

Structured polymers, longer residence time

The technology is built on established pharmaceutical- and food-grade polymers structured into proprietary architectures, avoiding complex chemical modification that can create manufacturing or regulatory issues. Healome holds five patent families covering the underlying matrix architecture.

The eye drop matrix has been used to deliver an anti-scarring biologic drug in a standard pre-clinical model of severely injured and infected corneas, resulting in rapid corneal healing with minimal side-effects.

The platform is being developed for dry eye disease, ocular surface inflammation, corneal injury, rare diseases associated with severe ocular surface damage and chronic drug delivery.

Rare disease application: Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB)

The investment from DEBRA Research and Cure EB will support Healome’s work on EB-associated ocular complications. Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic condition affecting approximately 500,000 people globally, of whom an estimated 5-20% experience ocular complications including chronic pain and recurrent corneal abrasions with a high risk of sight-threatening scarring. Public awareness of EB has grown following the Netflix documentary Matter of Time, which highlighted the unmet needs faced by patients and families living with the disease.

Dr Christoph Coch, MD, Managing Director at DEBRA Research, said: "For many people living with EB, the condition not only affects the skin but also the eyes. Blistering and wounds can occur spontaneously or be triggered by friction, dryness or irritation, often leading to severe pain, impaired vision and a significant impact on daily life. As there are currently no specific treatments for these ocular complications, we look forward to supporting Healome in their effort to develop patient-friendly and effective therapeutic approaches in this area. With this investment, we are continuing our commitment to accelerate the development of treatments that address the urgent unmet needs of people living with EB."

Sharmila Collins, Founder Trustee at Cure EB, said: "Corneal abrasions in people with severe forms of EB lead to temporary blindness, excruciating pain and the need for hourly eye drops applications throughout the day. To have an eye drop that requires less frequent dosing would improve the quality of life of those suffering the ocular manifestations of EB."

The broader need

Diseases affecting the surface of the eye are a broad category, and affect many people. Dry eye, which is the most well-known ocular surface condition, affects over 350 million people worldwide.

Johnathan Matlock, Co-Founder and General Partner at Empirical Ventures, said: “Healome targets a quantifiable bottleneck - drug residence time on the ocular surface - with a manufacturing-friendly approach built on well-characterised polymers. The approach and the data, demonstrating how the team are building upon this to unlock further therapeutic value on the eye, is what convinced us this is a category-defining platform rather than an incremental formulation play, with credible read-across from dry eye through to rare ocular diseases.”

Michael Theodosiou, Portfolio Manager at SFC Capital, said: “Having known Healome from an early stage, it was especially rewarding for SFC Capital to see the company close a well-deserved seed round. We are pleased to continue our support through follow-on funding and look forward to seeing Healome further advance its eye-drop technology for ocular surface conditions.”

Healome was co-founded by Professor Liam Grover, Professor Tony Metcalfe, Dr Richard Moakes and Dr Richard Williams who serves as Chief Executive Officer. All four are from the University of Birmingham, and the team has combined over 80 years of experience across biomaterials science, regenerative medicine and ophthalmic drug development and 6 peer-reviewed publications underpinning the platform. The underlying research originated at Birmingham’s Healthcare Technologies Institute.