Our Technology

EyeCyte, Inc. is an early stage company based in La Jolla, California formed to bring patients new treatments for eye disease. Building on a decade of research by Martin Friedlander, M.D., Ph.D. and his laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, EyeCyte is focused on the use of Regenerative Medicine strategies for the treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy and its complications.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Affecting over 4 million Americans, Diabetic Retinopathy is a disease that results from damage to the blood vessels that supply the retina, the light-sensing portion of the eye.

In the earliest stages of Diabetic Retinopathy, changes occur in the retinal blood vessels which can include the loss of cells from the outer blood vessel wall. This, in combination with other factors, can lead to leakage of fluid from the compromised vessels and swelling in the retina. When swelling is present in the central part of the retina responsible for sharp vision (the macula), the condition is called Diabetic Macular Edema and can cause severe vision loss.

As the disease progresses, some of the blood vessels that nourish the retina are blocked or lost. These areas of the retina send signals to the surrounding tissue to grow new blood vessels, heralding the most advanced stage of the disease, known as Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy. These new blood vessels are abnormal and grow into the clear gel that fills the inside of the eye. Alone, these blood vessels do not cause vision loss, but the fragile new vessels can break, bleed into the eye and promote scarring. These scars tend to shrink over time and in the worst cases, detach the retina leading to complete vision loss.