ET Startup Awards 2022: Eyestem bags the Top Innovator award

It’s estimated that cell therapy products will cost more than $450,000 per injection globally. The Bengaluru-based Eyestem’s mission to democratise access to such treatment by bringing the cost down to less than a 50th of that won it the Top Innovator Award at the ET Startup Awards 2022.

Eyestem’s aim to treat “incurable” eye diseases helped it pip Haber, an artificial intelligence powered startup that simplifies manufacturing processes, which came in as a close second. Its lead product Eyecyte-RPE is aimed at treating people with age-related macular degeneration, which causes blindness in people above 60 years of age. Its proprietary iCelldiff protocol allows Eyestem to create any cell of the body through a process that is repeatable, scalable and hence affordable. EyeCyte-RPE executes the cure through replacement of retinal pigment epithelium cells.