)
The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) has committed $27 million to eye health-focused biotech PolyActiva as part of a $40 million Series C funding round, with the funds set to expand and consolidate its operations into a single facility for R&D, analytics and manufacturing.
Funds from the round, which also includes leading Australian biotech venture capital firm Brandon Capital, will also go towards growing PolyActiva's highly skilled workforce and completing its phase 2b clinical trial.
PolyActiva claims its Prezia technology - which merged from research conducted at the CSIRO, Bionics Institute and Centre for Eye Research Australia - enables precise, consistent, customisable and effective delivery of ocular therapies for glaucoma and other eye diseases.
Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive eye disease that can lead to irreversible blindness by damaging the optic nerve due to increased eye pressure. Less than 50 per cent of glaucoma patients consistently use daily eye drops over time which leads to increased risk of vision loss.
"There are currently more than 80 million people worldwide suffering from glaucoma, and this number is expected to increase to over 111 million people by 2040," says NRFC CEO David Gall, a former National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) exec who was appointed to the role in January.
"PolyActiva’s ground-breaking technology is being developed with the hope, in the future, to provide those facing this debilitating disease with an alternative treatment regime that will vastly improve their quality of life while reducing the treatment burden on medical providers."
Gall adds the NRFC’s investment in PolyActiva allows the company to expand its highly skilled workforce to support local manufacturing of its drug delivery technology.
"PolyActiva’s implant technology has unique manufacturing requirements, so this investment helps to develop local capability and diversity in the pharmaceutical value chain, providing cascading benefits for Australia’s research, innovation and commercialisation ecosystem," he says.
The announcement comes as PolyActiva expands its commercial presence in the United States.
"Inspired by Cochlear's journey that leveraged Australian research to restore hearing to millions, PolyActiva is on our mission to reduce glaucoma-related vision loss globally," says PolyActiva’s Australian CEO Vanessa Waddell.
"This investment by the NRFC will help us do that, ensuring that we can complete our phase 2b clinical trial and prepare for phase 3 registration trial which will take us one step closer to a potential new therapy for glaucoma."
In addition to its treatment for glaucoma, PolyActiva has the potential to deliver a variety of other intra-ocular treatments including the antibiotic levofloxacin.
If successful, the treatment could reduce the risk of infection for patients that have recently undergone cataract surgery eliminating the need for peri-operative treatment and post-operation eye drops.
"The NRFC’s cornerstone investment in PolyActiva will anchor the company’s current funding round alongside Brandon Capital, helping to crowd-in the additional funding that it needs," says NRFC chief investment officer Dr Mary Manning.
"This is a great example of Australian innovation becoming a real-world solution that could improve millions of lives. The NRFC is proud to back PolyActiva and support the development of this breakthrough technology here at home."
This is third investment announced so far this year by the NRFC, which was established by the Federal Government in 2023 with a mandate to "to diversify and transform Australia’s industry and economy to secure future prosperity and drive sustainable economic growth".
Its last investment announcement in January was a $32 million boost for Sydney-based AI medical diagnosis technology company Harrison.ai as part of a $179 million Series C round, and its largest-ever investment commitment of $200 million for Arafura Rare Earths Limited a couple of weeks prior.
Other companies in the NRFC portfolio include Canberra-based hyperscale cloud computing provider Vault Cloud, satellite-enabled telecommunications provider Myriota from Adelaide, and Sydney-based quantum diamond technology company Quantum Brilliance.
)
