(Photo via LumiThera.com)

LumiThera, the Poulsbo, Wash.-based medical device startup developing a treatment for ocular disorders and diseases, has raised $14 million in a new funding round, the company announced this week.

The company is commercializing a device for use by ophthalmologists that improves vision and slows its loss, with a focus on patients with dry age-related macular degeneration. That core product, called the Valeda Light Delivery System, uses an approach called photobiomodulation (PBM) that stimulates cells with LED lights.

LumiThera says “PBM works through the absorption of photons by photoacceptors in the targeted tissue. Once absorbed, secondary cellular effects include increases in energy production and changes in signaling modalities such as reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide and cellular calcium. Cellular changes occur through activation of transcription factors leading to modulation in protein synthesis, proliferation and ultimately improved cell survival.”

The funding will help LumiThera complete its LIGHTSITE III U.S. clinical trial enrollment, and to pursue regulatory clearance of Valeda in the U.S. Valeda has received regulatory approval for sale in the European Union..

“We are very pleased with the investor interest in the company,” said Clark Tedford, Ph.D., president and CEO of LumiThera. “Our soft launch in Europe in the last year has demonstrated excitement for Valeda as the first approved treatment for dry AMD using photobiomodulation.”

The Series C round was led by Atlanta-based WaterStar Capital. Seattle-based Imagine Ventures, a previous investor, also participated as well as Keiretsu Capital, Water Star Mercury Fund, Nikon Corporation and Celeste Management.

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