Pantheon Vision announced it is entering a collaboration agreement with manufacturer Eyedeal Medical. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will work to advance the production and commercialization of Pantheon Vision’s bioengineered corneal implant.

“Pantheon Vision has assembled a world-leading ophthalmic design team whose groundbreaking mindset has enabled the bold development of a revolutionary single-piece polymer artificial cornea for vision restoration,” said Mr. Guo Guangxu, founder and CEO, Eyedeal Medical, in a press release. “This innovation, upon commercialization, will fundamentally eliminate the need for corneal donations while bringing new hope to global patients requiring corneal transplantation."

The availability of the current standard of care, which involves replacing the patient’s damaged or diseased cornea with a human donor cornea, is severely limited due to donor tissue shortages and comes with surgical complexities and a high failure rate, the company said.

John Sheets, Jr., PhD, president and CEO, Pantheon Vision, noted in the press release: “This agreement is a critical step for Pantheon Vision as we advance our mission of developing a bioengineered corneal solution to treat and restore vision for people around the world. We are grateful for the partnership with Eyedeal Medical and are extremely optimistic that together we can create an innovative solution that will provide meaningful benefits to patients suffering from corneal blindness.”