Eye disease biotech gets cash boost

Character Biosciences has lined up $93 million to support clinical trials for two potential drugs that could provide much needed options for patients with common degenerative eye diseases. The firm’s series B fundraising was co-led by aMoon and Luma Group. “We’re on the precipice of something really special,” says CEO Cheng Zhang. Character, initially called Clover Therapeutics, launched in 2018 to amass and analyze genetic data, clinical findings and eye imaging results to better understand the causes of dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD), a leading cause of vision loss. This approach led the biotech to the in-house discovery of two molecules—CTX203 and CTX114—that are poised to be tested in people with dry AMD. With CTX203 , Character is targeting dysfunctional lipid biology that may drive the disease in some patients. Zhang says that the appearance of fatty lipid and protein deposits under the retina are a hallmark of dry