As co-founder and CEO of Eyegenex, Dr. Prasad Sunkara is putting knowledge gained over three decades behind a revolutionary new approach to fighting blindness. In this endeavor, he does not take a salary. In fact, “none of us take any salaries,” and all the funds raised are used for the R&D, “mostly monkey work,” he told Citybiz.co Publisher Edwin Warfield in an interview.
The San Diego, Calif., firm focuses on two main causes of blindness — glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Globally, over 100 million could be impacted by glaucoma, given the high incidence among seniors in countries like Japan and China. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. Diabetic retinopathy affects tens of millions, notably in Sunkara’s native India, because one in four diabetes patients runs the risk of blindness.
Eyegenex has licensed two therapies developed by Prof. Ram Nagaraj’s laboratory at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus at University of Colorado Denver. A peptide therapy, consisting of multiple injections, is seen as a short-term fix for certain glaucoma patients who require immediate care, while a gene therapy is seen as a lasting treatment delivered via a solitary injection.
For good measure, Eyegenex is also considering stem cell. Restoring “vision loss with stem cell,” Sunkara said in the interview, is his “biggest ambition.” It’s a far from easy path, “but we have a way,” Sunkara said, citing small successes in early studies. “So, our hope is that it’ll make a big difference and we’ll come up with something,” he said. Eyegenex has conducted several trials on animals but the immediate goal is to do more preclinical studies on humans.
Sunkara received his Ph.D. in microbial biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and an MS in microbiology from the Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University. He conducted postdoctoral research in Cell and tumor Biology at the University of Texas’ M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Prior to Eyegenex, Sunkara has co-founded multiple startups in the United States and one in India, Translational Medicine India.
Connect with Prasad on LinkedIn
Interview questions:
Introduction |Eyegenex is focused on preventing vision loss through gene and peptide advances. Please provide an introduction; explain the neuroprotective products?
Glaucoma | What are the primary causes of glaucoma? How large is the glaucoma population in the United States?
Proteins | Can you explain what small heat shock proteins are and how they prevent vision loss? Are there any pharmacological approaches approved?
Patents | Eyegenex has licensed the patents from the University of Colorado. How did you discover the research? What was involved in licensing it from the University of Colorado.
Model | Eyegenex recently completed a one year study in a mouse model. What were the results?
Studies | What is the status of the preclinical studies for treating glaucoma in African Green Monkeys?
Data | Where does Eyegenex data stand?
Team | Who are the other members of the Eyegenex team?
Capital | How much capital has Eyegenex raised? What is the fund raising strategy?
Background | Can you share your career journey, starting with your advanced degree in microbiology, the other company you started, Molecular Therapeutics, and the launch of Eyegenex?
NuFund | Can you tell us how you became involved with NuFund?
Motivations |In one of your interviews, you mentioned that glaucoma has a personal motivation. Ie.India and other countries. Can you share this context?
Next | What are the next steps for Eyegenex?
Eyegenex has developed a biosynthetic artificial cornea derived from collagen to cure corneal blindness. It can be manufactured on demand and the transplantation process is quick and simple. It promotes nerve cell regeneration and allows bod’s cells to attach to their material matrix.
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