Japan Tissue Engineering Co., Ltd. announced that it has concluded an agreement with ActualEyes Inc. to perform part of the product development for a regenerative medical product candidate for corneal endothelium (development name: AE101) that ActualEyes is developing in collaboration with D. Western Therapeutics Institute Inc. (Aichi, Japan; President & CEO, Yuichi Hidaka). Corneal endothelium is positioned on the inside of the cornea, and it is indispensable to maintaining the transparency of the cornea. If the corneal endothelium becomes damaged, the cornea becomes clouded and loses its transparency, leading to severe visual disorders.

At present, the only treatment method for corneal endothelial damage is corneal transplantation, but there are various problems involved, such as the insufficient number of donors worldwide, and new treatment methods are sought. J-TEC has made inroads into regenerative medicine in the ophthalmology field, developing and marketing first Autologous Cultured Corneal Epithelium "Nepic", Japan's first regenerative medical product in the ophthalmology field, and then a second product, Autologous Cultured Oral Mucosal Epithelium "Ocural". Using the knowledge and expertise acquired in the process, J-TEC will support the early commercialization of regenerative medical product candidates developed by ActualEyes that are new treatment methods for the corneal endothelium.