MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TearScience, Inc., a privately held medical device company, today announced that it has secured up to $70 million in funding from HealthCare Royalty Partners to fully implement the company’s commercialization efforts and establish the TearScience system as the “Standard of Care” for evaporative dry eye. TearScience is focused on the worldwide dry eye market with more than 100 million sufferers and 86 percent having evaporative dry eye.1&2
“We are blessed to obtain this funding to build on our commercialization success. Our company had an exceptional first year product launch with TearScience selling more than 100 systems, effectively treating thousands of dry eye sufferers, and proving our commercial business model. HealthCare Royalty Partners’ funding and partnership will provide TearScience the financial resources to build on our success and fully execute on our global commercialization efforts,” said Tim Willis, President & CEO of TearScience.
“The TearScience system revolutionizes the eye-care professional’s entire approach to evaporative dry eye,” commented Gregory B. Brown , M.D., founding managing director at HealthCare Royalty Partners. “It assists the doctor in identifying evaporative dry eye, the most prevalent type of dry eye, and provides the most effective treatment. We believe this device-based solution delivers a more effective, less painful, and less expensive treatment option for this patient population.”
More than 23 million Americans suffer from dry eye disease. With the majority (86 percent2) suffering from evaporative dry eye, this represents a more than $10 billion market potential in North America. TearScience has developed and launched its system to address this market. The system includes the LipiView® Ocular Surface Interferometer and the LipiFlow® Thermal Pulsation System. Evaporative dry eye occurs when Meibomian glands in the eyelids become obstructed and do not secrete the oily lipids needed to keep the water portion of tears from evaporating too quickly. LipiView measures the absolute thickness of the lipid layer of a dry eye patient’s tear film while LipiFlow treats the root cause of evaporative dry eye disease by unblocking obstructed Meibomian glands during an in-office procedure. The goal of treating evaporative dry eye by unblocking the Meibomian glands is to allow the glands to resume their natural production of lipids required for a healthy tear film and ocular surface.
(1) 2009 Dry Eye Market Scope Report
(2) Distribution of Aqueous-Deficient and Evaporative Dry Eye in a Clinic-Based Patient Cohort: A Retrospective Study. Lemp et. al. Cornea 2012 May; 31(5):472-8.
About TearScience, Inc.
Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, TearScience has pioneered devices that provide significant clinical identification and treatment of evaporative dry eye. Of the 100 million plus of dry eye sufferers worldwide, the leading cause (86 percent) is evaporative dry eye, which is caused by Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) and a lipid deficiency of the eye’s natural tear film. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) workshop, involving two years of work by 50 leading experts from around the world, concluded that MGD is an under-estimated condition and is very likely the most frequent cause of dry eye disease. Common symptoms of the disease include eye irritation, dryness, redness, tiredness, and visual disturbances. TearScience’s integrated, in-office system enables eye care professionals to effectively address a root cause of evaporative dry eye. For additional information, visit www.tearscience.com.
About HealthCare Royalty Partners
HealthCare Royalty Partners is a global healthcare investment firm focused on providing financing solutions to healthcare companies and royalty owners with interests in approved pharmaceutical and medical device products. The firm’s senior investment team has participated in 45 royalty financings valued at over $2 billion over the past decade. For more information, visit www.healthcareroyalty.com/.