Character Biosciences announced Tuesday it has secured $93 million in Series B financing to advance its pipeline of precision therapies for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), with plans to initiate clinical trials for two lead candidates this year.
The oversubscribed funding round was co-led by aMoon and Luma Group, with participation from Bausch + Lomb, Jefferson Life Sciences, and existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Catalio Capital Management, S32, and KdT Ventures.
Targeting Different Stages of AMD Progression
Character's most advanced drug candidate, CTX114, aims to treat geographic atrophy, an advanced stage of dry AMD characterized by patchy lesions that create blind spots. The drug works by targeting the complement system—an arm of the immune system implicated in AMD pathology—but with a novel mechanism that mimics a protein that prevents complement overactivation.
This approach positions CTX114 as a potential competitor to two recently approved treatments: Apellis Pharmaceuticals' Syfovre and Astellas Pharma's Izervay. While these existing therapies can slow lesion growth, they haven't definitively demonstrated vision preservation, and Syfovre has been associated with rare but severe side effects.
The company's second candidate, CTX203, addresses an earlier stage of disease by targeting patients with "intermediate" AMD who aren't typically treated. CTX203 works by stabilizing expression of ABCA1, a protein involved in lipid transport by retinal cells. Lower ABCA1 levels correlate with abnormal lipid buildup that can drive AMD progression.
"Millions of patients suffering from degenerative eye diseases lack effective treatments that delay disease progression," said Cheng Zhang, CEO and Co-Founder of Character Biosciences. "By identifying the genetic modifiers of their disease progression, we can develop therapeutics to more precisely target the root causes of disease and improve clinical translation."
Data-Driven Precision Medicine Approach
What distinguishes Character's strategy is its extensive patient data collection effort. The company has partnered with over 150 ophthalmology centers across the United States to gather genetic, clinical, and imaging data from more than 6,500 AMD patients.
This proprietary dataset allows Character to reclassify AMD into genetically-defined subtypes and optimize patient selection for clinical trials—addressing a key challenge in AMD drug development.
"What gives us comfort is that we have mapped out those challenges, we have a deeper understanding of how we might mitigate those risks," Zhang explained. "We can subtype patients, understand those patients who are more likely to respond to our therapy, and have a drug that has more applications in the first place."
Significant Market Opportunity
AMD affects approximately one in eight people over 50 and is the leading cause of blindness in older adults worldwide. The disease has historically been difficult to treat, particularly the dry form that accounts for the majority of cases—estimated at 200 million people globally.
"The next frontier of precision medicine lies at the convergence of genomics, deep phenotyping, and AI applied to complex polygenic disorders," said Reut Shema, Partner at aMoon. "The Character Bio team is driving innovation forward by uniquely assembling historically siloed disciplines."
Strategic Partnership and Future Plans
In January, Character announced a collaboration with Bausch + Lomb that includes an upfront payment and potential milestone payments and royalties for novel AMD therapeutics.
The Series B funding will support Phase 1 and Phase 2 proof-of-concept studies for both lead candidates, as well as expansion of Character's pipeline into additional ophthalmic diseases. The company expects both CTX114 and CTX203 to begin Phase 1 trials this year.
Jamie Kasuboski, Partner at Luma Group, highlighted the company's unique approach: "Character's patient-first approach is unique in its ability to identify those who are most likely to benefit from therapy, and we look forward to seeing the clinical impact of this approach."
