ReVision Optics – 2013 Fierce 15

Print 21 October 2013
FierceMedicalDevices

Based: Lake Forest, CA
Founded: 2005
CEO: John Kilcoyne
Website: revisionoptics.com

The Scoop: ReVision Optics is upping the technological game with vision improvement devices and technology. The company's Raindrop Near Vision microscopic hydrogel inlay is designed to treat patients with presbyopia, the loss of near vision in patients when they reach middle age and typically need reading glasses. CEO John Kilcoyne said doctors can now also use RainDrop in patients receiving a separate procedure to correct their distance vision.

What Makes It Fierce: ReVision brings simple yet game-changing technology to the table that has attracted major financial backing as it moves through the final stages of its clinical trial process. With a CE mark in hand, ReVision is also pursuing markets across Europe. Separately, it also has eyes on Latin America and Asia.

First, lets talk about the funding. ReVision has raised an impressive $128 million in financing throughout its history. The company nailed down $55 million of that in July 2013, securing equity financing, in part, from Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. ($JNJ) and RusnanoMedInvest, a subsidiary of Rusnano--a tech investment firm owned by the Russian government. Previous investors Canaan Partners, ProQuest Investments, InterWest Partners and Domain Associates also participated. At the same time, ReVision also sealed a commercial supply and distribution deal with NovaMedica, a joint partnership including both Domain Associates and Rusnano that's designed to bring Raindrop into Russia and surrounding countries.

Raindrop has a CE mark, and ReVision has been gradually rolling out the gel inlay throughout the European Union over the last year. Revision also has approval in Japan and wants to launch the product in Latin America. In the U.S., meanwhile, executives are hard at work on a rigorous PMA approval process., ReVision completed enrollment over the summer in a 350-patient Investigational Device Exemption trial testing RainDrop's safety and effectiveness in patients with presbyopia, a major milestone for the company.

"It was a very happy July for us," Kilcoyne told us. "I think, though, that the group clearly understands that is halfway there. We still have an awful lot of work to do."

ReVision next focuses on a two-year follow-up window for the patients. Another huge milestone is also looming. The 50-employee company expects to begin a modular PMA submission process "shortly," with an eye toward approval in the first half of 2016.

"The mood at the company is very positive right now," Kilcoyne said.

At ReVision's headquarters, employees and executives have been working to transform the company from a focus on research and development into an ongoing concern.

"We've been working really hard on establishing a very strong manufacturing system," he said, noting that the company has built out a new precision production area.

What To Look For: Kilcoyne won't talk of selling the company just yet, which many small med tech companies do when they come close to market with their debut products.

"The goal or strategy here at ReVision is we are going to be successful on our own," he said. "If we can be successful in developing Raindrop Near Vision so it is accepted as a premium channel device in multiple markets, we will have opportunities later on."

Kilcoyne added: "We need to take care of daily activities, one day, one week, one month at a time. And if we do that effectively, we will have success, whatever success means."

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