A light in the dark for retinal disease

We are developing a 10-year phototherapeutic implant designed to treat diabetic retinopathy upstream of intraocular VEGF expression, completely eliminating the burden of chronic eye injections for millions of patients.

The Market Failure

The Patient Burden	Loss to Follow-Up	Destructive Alternatives
Current treatments require frequent, painful eye injections for life, leading to high healthcare costs and intense caregiver fatigue.	Up to 50% of real-world patients drop out of treatment over time because they miss appointments, resulting in irreversible vision loss.	Laser treatments (PRP) resolve underlying hypoxia but permanently destroy peripheral vision to save central vision.

The Innovation

10-Year Longevity	Proceduralized Care	Global Scalability
Completely self-powered with zero external batteries, zero recharging, and zero patient compliance required.	Transformed from a chronic monthly burden into a single, straightforward intervention—anchored at the pars plana much like standard cataract surgery.	Engineered for a manufacturing COGS in the ~$100s USD, making it highly viable for both premium high-income markets and low/middle-income countries (LMICs).

External validation

$250K

Winner of the Seva Innovation Challenge

Photonic Medicines was awarded $250,000 in non-dilutive funding for our breakthroughs in continuous, self-powered micro-phototherapy for retinal diseases. This award validates our preclinical approach to completely eliminating the global burden of chronic anti-VEGF eye injections.

Founding Team

Colin Cook, PhD
CEO

Johann Hernandez
Founding Engineer

Kunal Parikh, PhD
Strategy Officer