Ellex offshoot Nova Eye Medical in Adelaide taking its glaucoma and macular degeneration treatment to the world
Nova Eye Medical in 2020 gained the Molteno drainage device (inset) to add to its iTrack glaucoma treatment.
Adelaide-based Nova Eye Medical built on its strength in glaucoma treatments in 2020 by creating a subsidiary to develop a treatment for age-related macular degeneration.
The publicly-listed Nova Eye had been focused on its iTrack and Molteno devices for treating glaucoma. The iTrack had sales of about 14,000 units in 2019-20, with almost 60% sold in the United States of America, followed by China, Germany and Switzerland. Used in minimally invasive glaucoma surgery, the device cleared and flushed the irrigation system of the eye that’s clogged – leading to pressure in the eye and glaucoma.
In 2020, Nova Eye also bought New Zealand company Molteno Ophthalmic that developed and made glaucoma drainage devices for severe and complex glaucoma. The small carefully crafted polypropylene implants would continue to be made in Dunedin but would be sold by Nova Eye’s sales team worldwide.
In another 2020 move, Nova Eye set up a subsidiary AlphaRET to help develop commercially its 2RT technology for treating age-related macular degeneration – the most common cause of blindness in the developed world. Based on seminal research by a team led by company founder and innovative force Victor Previn, 2RT nanosecond laser therapy matured into a world-first intervention designed to slow age-related macular degeneration.
AlphaRET aimed to set up a three-year multicentre study in the USA to gain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for 2RT to treat patients with intermediate age-related macular degeneration. The 2RT product already can be used for treatment in Europe and about 40 trial units have already been sold. Nova Eye Medical director Tom Spurling said AlphaRET would seek partners to fund the study to gain FDA clearance in the United States.
Nova Eye Medical was the offshoot of Adelaide-born Ellex Lasers & Ultrasound that was sold in 2020 for $100 million to French multinational Lumibird Group. The sale also included the company’s high-tech manufacturing plant in the northern Adelaide suburb of Mawson Lakes. About 170 staff worked for the Lumibird-owned Ellex in Mawson Lakes and its subsidiaries around the world.
The Ellex sale meant Adelaide had two ophthalmic device companies. Out of that deal, Nova Eye Medical retained products such as iTrack and set up new headquarters in inner-city Adelaide and had about 50 staff mainly in California and South Australia.
