Ichor nabs $600,000 program investment and new partnerships in wake of company expansion and promising early results

Ichor builds new partnerships and lands $600k investment for its Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) research initiative, which has shown positive early results.

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a presently incurable eye condition leading to partial loss of vision and affects as many as 15 million Americans and millions more globally. AMD has a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life through decreased independence and increased fall risk as well as the psychological and financial burden that vision loss can cause.

Ichor began operating in the space in late 2014 after completing a material and technology transfer agreement with SENS Research Foundation for exclusive rights to a pre-clinical enzyme augmentation therapy platform for AMD and Stargardt’s macular degeneration, a juvenile onset form of the disease.

Another partnership fueling the scientific innovation at Ichor is with Syracuse University, a major research institution in the North Eastern United States. The partnership supports the long term corporate profitably of Ichor through a licensing agreement for exclusive rights to jointly developed intellectual property in the AMD market.

The recently completed transfer agreement provides additional resources to the well-established AMD research initiative at Ichor.  Most recently, this initiative has received additional support in the form of a $600,000 program investment from Kizoo Tech Ventures, FightAging.org, and several private investors.

Ichor CEO Kelsey Moody said, “Our advances towards a treatment for AMD have excited many in the industry. We are fortunate to have such a deep network of scientific advisors, clinicians, collaborators, and investors who share our vision in advancing our therapeutic pipeline as quickly as possible.”

These resources and partnerships will continue to drive Ichor’s AMD program, which has early results suggesting effective methods to treat the early, moderate, and late stages of AMD. Currently available treatments largely focus on the late stage only, leading to many patients going untreated. The implications of an Ichor developed therapy could mean millions of individuals could retain or regain their sight. To this end Ichor is continuing to develop lead candidates and assess safety and efficacy in mouse models of the disease.

Of these partnerships Kelsey Moody, CEO, said “We have made significant and tangible progress towards targeting AMD, which is a prolific and poorly treated disease. These partnerships and new tranche of program specific funding are essential in bringing us closer to that reality.”