Neovista, a Fremont, Calif.-based biotech company specializing in eye diseases, says it raised $18 million in a fourth round of funding to commercialize its new device. The money came from Accuitive Medical Ventures, Carlyle Group, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, MPM Capital, SV Life Sciences and Versant Ventures.
The company says the money should be enough to see the device through to approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 2010. The product has already been cleared for several European markets and will launch in Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom in May or June this year.
The device itself is used to treat age-related degeneration of certain parts of the eye. Neovista last raised funds in 2006, bringing in $41 million from the same six investors.