Ocular Disease Therapy Developer NexThera Raises USD 16.7M Series B

NexThera, a biotech venture developing therapies for ocular diseases, announced on September 28 that it has closed a USD 16.7 million (22 billion won) Series B round, bringing its cumulative funding to USD 29.6 million (39 billion won).

Woori Venture Partners served as anchor investor and led the round. KB Investment and Korea BMI participated as follow-on investors. New investors joining the round included Yuanta Investment, MuirwoodSventures, Korea Development Bank Capital–K & Investment Partners, Mirae Asset Securities, Sventures, and Coolidge Corner Investment, among other venture capital firms and financial institutions.

NexThera’s core pipeline is NT-101, a first-in-class topical eye drop candidate for wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). The candidate delivers drug to the posterior segment of the eye, including the retina, through non-invasive topical administration instead of repeated intravitreal injection. The company completed Part 1 of its U.S. Phase 1/2a trial, where the high-dose group showed a mean improvement of 6.2 letters in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Part 2 is currently underway. In April, NT-101 was selected for the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF) program.

NexThera plans to use the Series B proceeds to complete the U.S. clinical trial of NT-101 and prepare for an IPO.

“We will successfully complete the ongoing U.S. Phase 1/2a Part 2 trial of NT-101 and systematically prepare for the next leap forward, including an IPO, to become a company that transforms the paradigm of the global ocular disease therapy market,” said Park Se-kwang, CEO of NexThera.