The licensing deal is with China’s Haoguang, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boye Biotech.

EBS has raised around £3 million to date and is about to embark on a £5m series A round, as the Edinburgh-headquartered eyecare technology specialist looks to radically improve and shorten the pathway of care for cataract patients.

Over 20 million cataract operations took place worldwide in 2020, and the technology being developed by the EBS team via its LEDINBIO device provides an alternative to surgery by non-invasive treatment and a significant reduction in cost per patient.

Underpinned by years of research and development and having reached a series of clinical trial milestones, EBS’s technology deploys LED technology for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment and is on course to make cataract treatment delivery up to 90% quicker at significantly lower cost by taking cataract treatment from operating theatres to a high street clinical setting - while helping to alleviate global hospital waiting lists that have been exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

EBS is targeting the European, UK and China markets in its first phase of commercialisation, and plans to sell its technology to clinical optometry and ophthalmology providers, and other eye and healthcare industry players.

EBS’s CEO Graham Bell previously led corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions at NASDAQ-listed University of Dundee spin-out Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, while chairman David Quigley, a qualified optometrist and joint venture partner with Specsavers Opticians in Scotland, also chairs Optometry Scotland tasked with representing the community eyecare sector to the Scottish Government.

EBS was founded by Professor Des Smith, a leading Scottish bioscience entrepreneur, who remains on the board.

Graham Bell, CEO, said: “EBS is positioned to revolutionise cataract treatment, first in the European, UK and China markets, and then worldwide. The technology we have developed will change the pathway of care for cataract patients, meaning treatment can be administered in a local setting rather than in an operating theatre. When you factor in hospital waiting lists that have only been exacerbated by Covid, the timing is opportune for a drastic change to the status quo where surgery is the sole solution for a cataract.”

Pointing to estimates of the untreated cataract market, including developing countries, at over 65 million people and equating to around $7 billion in market value, EBS plans to target a global rollout in its next phase of growth.

David Quigley, chairman, added: “As an industry, we’ve been seeking a more effective solution for tackling the cataract challenge and the impact it has on patients and hospital waiting times. The team has proven, most recently through successful clinical trials, that the technology will be a game-changer, deliverable conveniently, safely and efficiently in a non-surgical setting. While focusing on the European, UK and China markets over the initial phase, we envisage even greater market opportunities worldwide going forward.”

EBS is in active discussions with a number of UK and international regulatory bodies, has a number of patents in place or pending, and expects to double headcount this year.

The series A investment round process is being managed by Manchester-based advisory firm, Oyster Venture Partners, which specialises in supporting the life science, healthcare and health tech sectors.