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Character Biosciences announced this week it completed a $93 million Series B financing round.

The Jersey City-based company develops targeted therapies for progressive polygenic diseases. According to Character Biosciences, the funding will accelerate the advancement of its pipeline precision therapies to treat degenerative eye diseases. That work will begin with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Character Biosciences has partnered with over 150 ophthalmology treatment centers nationwide to conduct an AMD-focused observational trial. Additionally, the company noted that AMD affects 1-in-8 people over 50. It is also the leading cause of blindness for older adults worldwide.

The efforts and approach have led to the discovery and advancement of Character Biosciences lead candidates. The therapies target key drivers of retinal cell death and vision loss, including:

• CTX203 – A first-in-class lipid regulator that aims to prevent progression of advanced AMD
• CTX114 – A best-in-class complement inhibitor designed to slow the progression of geographic atrophy in advanced dry AMD

The company expects both programs to enter clinical trials in the next year. Meanwhile, Character Biosciences will also leverage its AI-driven, genomics-based platform to expand its pipeline into more ophthalmic diseases.

“Millions of patients suffering from degenerative eye diseases lack effective treatments that delay disease progression,” said Cheng Zhang, CEO and co-founder, 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.”

Key details of the $93M Series B round include:

• Co-led by new investors aMoon and Luma Group. Additional participation came from Bausch + Lomb and Jefferson Life Sciences, alongside existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Catalio Capital Management, S32 and KdT Ventures
• Will support Phase 1 and Phase 2 proof-of-concept studies for CTX203 and CTX 114, as well as pipeline expansion
• Follows a January collaboration announced with Bausch + Lomb. That partnership includes an upfront payment with potential downstream development as well as sales-based milestones and royalties for novel therapeutics targeting AMD

“This funding allows us to advance our lead programs into first-in-class human trials – with the goal of bringing new therapies to patients who urgently need them,” said Zhang.

“We are proud to back this team’s mission to cure age-related blindness,” said Reut Shema, partner, aMoon.

Luma Group partner Jamie Kasuboski said Character’s patient-first approach is unique in its ability to identify those who are most likely to benefit from therapy.

“Character is leveraging its multi-omics approach to move beyond the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to deliver first- and best-in-class therapies tailored to specific disease subtypes,” said Kasuboski. “We look forward to seeing the clinical impact of this approach with the use of proceeds from this financing.”