A 78-year-old man who has been blind in both eyes for 10 years has regained his sight after receiving the first implant of an artificial cornea developed by Israeli startup CorNeat, the company announced Monday.

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The CorNeat KPro implant is designed to replace deformed, scarred or opacified corneas, and it integrates with the eye wall with no reliance on donor tissue.

Professor Irit Bahar, head of the Ophthalmology Department at Rabin Medical Center (formerly Beilinson Hospital) in Petah Tikva, performed the procedure.

Once the bandages were removed, the patient was able to recognize family members and read text.

"The surgical procedure was straightforward and the result exceeded all of our expectations. The moment we took off the bandages was emotional and significant. Moments like these are the fulfillment of our calling as doctors. We are proud of being at the forefront of this exciting and meaningful project which will undoubtedly impact the lives of millions," Bahar said.

CorNeat KPro inventor and company co-founder Dr. Gilad Litvin said, "Unveiling this first implanted eye and being in that room, in that moment, was surreal."

"After years of hard work, seeing a colleague implant the CorNeat KPro with ease and witnessing a fellow human being regain his sight the following day was electrifying and emotionally moving, there were a lot of tears in the room."

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Glaucoma, or ocular hypertension, is a leading cause of blindness that affects 140 million globally. However, there are only 6,000 glaucoma specialists throughout the world.

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Belkin has developed a non-contact, painless treatment that is activated by a touchscreen. Invented by Professor Michael Belkin, the technology can be used by all ophthalmologists, making treatment accessible to many more patients.

Prior to the fundraising round completed last week, Belkin Laser raised $6.6 million, including an incubator grant from the Israel Innovation Authority and a $3 million grant from the prestigious European Horizon 2020.

Belkin Laser CEO Daria Lemann-Blumenthal said that the latest investments – which came from Rimonci Capital, Santen Ventures, Inc., BioLight Life Sciences, CR-CP Life Science Fund, and C-Mer Eye Care Holdings – "signal that the industry has trust in our technology."

Lemann-Blumenthal said that the funds would be invested in GLAUrious, the company's multi-center trial in Europe, and in new trials in Asia.

"Easy and effective glaucoma treatment is one step closer for millions of patients," the CEO said.

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According to the university, "Xantomato" is rich in a substance called zeaxanthin, a natural yellow pigment that helps plants in the photosynthesis process and can be found mainly in corn, orange peppers, pumpkins and citrus fruits, and at very low concentrations in melons, mangos, apricots, and peaches.

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Zeaxanthin could potentially inhibit degenerative diseases by protecting the light receptors in the retina from damage caused by strong blue light.

The researchers, headed by Professor Joseph Hirschberg, who specializes in genetics, molecular biology, and genetic engineering in plants, said that adding zeaxanthin to the daily diet helps to reduce the development of degenerative diseases, especially macular degeneration, which causes blindness in adults.

Hirschberg noted that "Xantomato" – named for "xanthophyll," the group of substances to which zeaxanthin belongs, and "tomato" – was developed using classical genetic cultivation and hybridizations of different strains.

Zeaxanthin makes up more than half of the pigments in the new tomato, on top of the vitamins and other essential nutrients found in regular tomatoes, he noted. In fact, the new tomato strain has seven times more zeaxanthin than corn, which is the main source of this substance in today's diets.

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"As far as we know, this is the highest level of zeaxanthin achieved in any major agricultural crop in the world," the researchers noted.

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