Ocusphere Therapeutics Inc

health AI / biotech startup focused on gene therapy for inherited retinal diseases

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StagePre-seed

Raised$400,000

Founded2024

Employees2

LocationHayward, CA

About

Ocusphere have raised a total of 1.2M USD in funding from our co-founder and angel investor, Mr. Huang, to support the development of our company and its mission. OcuSphere Therapeutics is a startup-stage gene therapy company focused on creating an AI-powered, modularized platform to produce affordable, non-viral based genetic medicines for patients with inherited retinal diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. Our aim is to discover, manufacture, and commercialize durable, effective gene therapies that are accessible to all patients worldwide. We are driven by the belief that genetic medicines should be affordable for every patient. The current cost of gene therapy, priced at 850,000 USD, poses a significant challenge for many. With our cutting-edge technology, developed in the laboratory of the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, we are committed to disrupting the current gene therapy market and making life-changing treatments accessible to those in need.

Product

Value proposition: Developing a scalable, non-viral gene therapy platform for inherited retinal diseases to address large genes, enable repeat dosing, and reduce production costs.

Founders

Mutian Lian — Founder, Director, Secretary, and R&D
Mariya Moosajee — Founder
Ting Lu — Founder
Jack Lu — Chief Executive Officer

Products

LNP-DNA-USH2ALNP-DNA-CRB1LNP-RNA-RLBP1LNP-DNA-CHMLNP-DNA Eye DropSynthetic Virion

Key features

Synthetic virions with modular cargo protection, cell targeting, endosomal escape, and nuclear entrynon-replicative, non-pathogenic viral-like delivery systemcapable of encapsulating large or multiple therapeutic payloadspotentially scalable, cost-effective manufacturinguses Evo 2 genomic AI for promoter prediction in retinal cells

Technologies

Synthetic virionsmodular delivery systemsnon-viral gene therapyLNP (lipid nanoparticles)genomic AI model (Evo 2)retinal genomics analysis

Target conditions

inherited retinal diseases (IRDs)retinal degenerationsvision loss

Traction metrics

IRDs affect large patient populationsfocus on cost reduction and accessibility

Investors

Mr. Huang

News

Ocuphire Pharma Announces Acquisition of Opus Genetics · 2024-10-22T16:05:00.000Z
Ocuphire and Opus Genetics merge in all-stock ophthalmology deal · 2024-10-22T20:05:09.000Z
Ocuphire Pharma Initiates VEGA-3 Phase 3 Trial Evaluating Phentolamine Ophthalmic Solution 0.75% for Presbyopia - BioSpace · 2024-09-05T12:48:43.000Z
Ocuphire Pharma just purchased Opus Genetics · 2024-10-23T08:30:16.000Z
NewMediaWire | Ocumetics Accelerates Toward Group Two First-In-Human Study With Manufacturing Launch of Optimized Accommodating Lens · 2026-05-12T13:17:55.000Z
Ocugen’s CEO wants to bring gene therapy to the masses · 2026-04-16T13:00:00.000Z

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Profile updated Jul 29, 2026. Sources: ocusphere.com