Philanthropist Tej Kohli Pledges $2 Million Gift to Champion Biotech Solutions for Eliminating Corneal Blindness Worldwide By 2030
Tej Kohli, a London-based billionaire who made his fortune during the dotcom boom selling e-commerce payments software, has pledged $2 million to Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston to fund innovation in research to cure corneal blindness, including the development of promising biotechnology solutions. The move reflects Kohli’s belief in the promise of new technologies to build a better world as he seeks to find a solution to eliminating avoidable corneal blindness that is not dependent on transplantation.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190728005015/en/
Kohli has already made substantial progress in his global mission to eradicate avoidable corneal blindness by 2030. The philanthropic Tej Kohli Cornea Institute in Hyderabad is an eminent institution for corneal research and expertise. Between 2016 and 2018 the institute saw 167,321 outpatient visits, collected 26,269 donor corneas, utilized 15,784 cornea and completed 31,511 surgical procedures.
285 million people in the world have a visual impairment and 39 million people are blind, according to the World Health Organization. Blindness is heavily impacted by poverty, with up to 14 of the 39 million living in India. Yet a good proportion of blindness, including 75% of corneal disease, is curable. 12.7 million of the world’s blind are waiting for cornea transplants, including six million in India, and only one in seventy of those on waiting lists receive a corneal transplant each year. Solving the problem of corneal blindness will require an affordable non-surgical solution.
Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School (HMS) and its Department of Ophthalmology is the world’s largest vision research and clinical enterprise. Between 2016 and 2018, MEE ophthalmologists conducted 521,805 patient visits and performed 101,941 ophthalmic surgeries and procedures. A long-time leader in research and clinical care for retinal disease, MEE performed the first FDA-approved gene therapy for an inherited disease in March 2018. Its clinician scientists are currently conducting more than 110 clinical studies and trials, in order to investigate new therapies across a broad array of vision disease and disorders.
The Tej Kohli Cornea Program at MEE will accelerate innovative and collaborative research to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs in corneal disease. The program will pursue pathways to cure corneal blindness through prevention and treatment, including cutting-edge molecular technology for rapid diagnosis and early detection of corneal infection and GelCORE, an adhesive biomaterial for replacing corneal tissue. The clinician/scientists who will lead this work are:
- Reza Dana, MD, PhD, MSc , an internationally recognized expert in corneal disorders and ocular inflammation. Dr. Dana holds the Claes H. Dohlman Professorship in Ophthalmology at HMS and is director of the cornea service at the MEE.
- Michael Gilmore, PhD, is the founder and principal investigator of the Harvard-wide Program on Antibiotic Resistance. Dr. Gilmore holds the Sir William Osler Professorship in Ophthalmology at HMS.
- James Chodosh, MD, MPH , holds the David G. Cogan Professorship in Ophthalmology in the field of Cornea and External Disease and is an associate director of the Infectious Disease Institute in the Department of Ophthalmology at HMS.
The work of these investigators follows a tradition of pioneering innovations in corneal and immunology research at MEE. Claes H. Dohlman, MD invented the Boston Keratoprosthesis (B-KPro), the most popular artificial cornea in the world and Dr. Chodosh has expanded its scope, restoring vision to those with blinding corneal disease and injury. Dr. Gilmore published the definitive research on “super bugs” discovering the mechanism used by microorganisms to acquire multidrug resistance. Last March, Dr. Dana led a pre-clinical study published in Science Advances – showing early indications that GelCORE may be able to seal cuts or ulcers on the cornea and then encourage the regeneration of corneal tissue.
Tej Kohli’s goal of curing corneal blindness is being pursued through philanthropy, including the $2 million donation to MEE, as well as through business ventures and investments in technology. Kohli recently acquired a proprietary regenerative biotechnology that is currently in clinical trials. If successful as an off-the-shelf solution, Kohli believes that this regenerative biotechnology could be immediately relevant to up to one third of the 12.7 million who are currently waiting for corneal transplants world-wide.
Tej Kohli says:
“Biotechnology is in a chain reaction of exponential technological progression and rapid development that offers unprecedented new opportunities to improve human life. What we think we can achieve with biotechnology is a non-surgical solution to corneal blindness that can be applied through a syringe like a vaccine. Mass. Eye and Ear is one of the leading centres of excellence in the world, and my $2 million donation is to help ensure that the development of a technological solution to eliminating corneal blindness becomes a reality.”
Joan W. Miller, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at HMS and Chief of Ophthalmology at MEE, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, says:
“We are deeply appreciative of this gift, which will allow us to advance biotechnology therapies - first to clinical trials and ultimately to large populations of people afflicted with corneal infection and blindness. Tej Kohli is passionate about curing corneal blindness around the globe and we at Mass. Eye and Ear are very pleased to partner with him as we develop the next generation of treatments and cures.”
About Tej Kohli
Tej Kohli is a London-based entrepreneur with a well-publicized mission to cure corneal blindness worldwide by 2030. He first rose to success during the dotcom boom selling technology solutions and e-commerce payments software before becoming a real estate investor in technology hubs. He now focuses on high-impact investments into AI, robotics, biotech and genomics ventures with the potential to transform lives and change the world.
Mr Kohli is a Distinguished Alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur (IITK) where he completed a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Tej Kohli Cornea Institute video: https://youtu.be/aGSKKoMCDAE
About Massachusetts Eye and Ear
MEE, founded in 1824, is an international center for treatment and research, is a member of Partners HealthCare. MEE specializes in ophthalmology and otolaryngology–head and neck surgery. MEE clinicians provide care ranging from the routine to the very complex. Home to the world's largest community of hearing and vision researchers, MEE scientists are driven by a mission to discover the basic biology underlying conditions affecting the eyes, ears, nose, throat, head and neck and to develop new treatments and cures. In the 2018-2019 "Best Hospitals Survey," U.S. News & World Report ranked MEE #4 in the U.S. for ophthalmology and #6 for otolaryngology.
ENDS
A video about the biotech innovations that The Tej Kohli Cornea Program will support is available here: https://youtu.be/2zUBtj6H7GM
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190728005015/en/
Contact information
For an interview with Tej Kohli please contact:
Mike Macfarlane
mike@tejkohli.com
+447764 225 924
Helen Tarbet / Kim van Beeck / Hannah Ratcliff (Buchanan)
kohliventures@buchanan.uk.com
+4420 7466 5000
For an interview with Dr. Joan Miller please contact:
Jennifer Street
+1617-573-3424
Jennifer_Street@meei.harvard.edu
About Business Wire
Business Wire(c) 2018 Business Wire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in multiplatform press release distribution.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vertex Announces Reimbursement of Cystic Fibrosis Medicines SYMDEKO® (tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor) for Eligible Patients Ages 12 and Older, and ORKAMBI® (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) in Children Ages 2 to 5, With Certain CFTR Mutations in Australia19.10.2019 23:29:00 CEST | Press release
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) today announced that SYMDEKO® (tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor) is reimbursed in Australia for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 12 years and older who are homozygous for the F508del mutation or who have one copy of the F508del mutation and another responsive residual function (RF) mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. People with CF who have one copy of the F508del mutation and another responsive RF mutation in the CFTR gene will have access to a medicine for the cause of their CF for the first time. In addition, ORKAMBI® (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) is now also reimbursed for the treatment of children with CF ages 2 to 5 who have two copies of the F508del mutation in the CFTR gene. Patients over the age of 6 have already been able to access ORKAMBI® in Australia since October 2018. Following previously received positive recommendations from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PB
A&D Resources utvider i Norden19.10.2019 12:57:00 CEST | Press release
A&D Resources, den autoriserte distributøren for Hogan Assessments i Danmark og Benelux-landene, utvider forretningsdriften til Finland, Norge og Sverige, noe som gjøre det til den fremste Hogan-distributøren i regionen. Denne pressemeldingen inneholder multimedia. Se hele pressemeldingen her: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191019005034/no/ A&D spesialiserer seg i evaluering og utvikling av enkeltpersoner, grupper og organisasjoner, og er ansett som den fremste evalueringsvirksomheten i Danmark. Denne utvidelsen i Norden kan i stor grad tilskrives organisasjonens suksesshistorie i den omliggende regionen og også på grunn av dens arbeid globalt. «Vi er heldige som har et sterkt omdømme innenfor vår bransje, enten det er i Danmark, Benelux eller utover, og det er fordi vi leverer», sier Hans Ove Dahl, administrerende direktør i A&D. «Vi mener at hvis du bygger opp et talentfullt team ved å bruke Hogans evalueringer, som er allment betraktet som de mest prediktive evalueringene
EURid Launches New Eligibility Criteria19.10.2019 04:30:00 CEST | Press release
The top-level internet domain .eu is the eighth largest country code extension on the internet and, as of October 2019, we have more than 3.6 million registrations spread out across Europe. Since its launch in 2006, only companies and individuals residing within the EU and EEA member states have been eligible to register the .eu domain name. However, striving to meet the needs of an ever-changing digital environment, the eligibility criteria for the registration of .eu domain name has now been extended to all EU citizens living around the world. With millions of Europeans living around the world – our hope is to provide these individuals, living far from their native lands, with a personal online platform through which they can share their stories with families and friends back home. “We are excited to be able to extend the registration criteria to EU citizens around the world. The .eu domain is now closer to your ambitions, achievements and dreams. It is the bridge connecting you to y
ams to Launch New Takeover Offer for OSRAM at EUR 41.00 Per Share With Minimum Acceptance Threshold of 55%18.10.2019 17:16:00 CEST | Press release
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION (IN WHOLE OR IN PART) IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide supplier of high performance sensor solutions, announces that it intends to launch a new all-cash takeover offer for OSRAM Licht AG ("OSRAM") for 100% of the share capital of OSRAM at a price of EUR 41.00 per share ("Offer"). The Offer which represents a premium of 42% to the undisturbed OSRAM share price of EUR 28.92 as of 2 July 2019 will be launched by ams Offer GmbH, a newly incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of ams. ams is the largest shareholder in OSRAM with a direct shareholding of 19.99% which ams will not exceed outside of the Offer. As a result of ams' shareholder position, ams has lowered the minimum acceptance threshold to 55%. Winning way forward for ams and OSRAM The combination of ams and OSRAM allows ams to create a global leader in sensor solutio
Resecurity Appoints Selene Giupponi Managing Director of Resecurity Europe18.10.2019 15:38:00 CEST | Press release
Resecurity, a cybersecurity company that delivers in-depth analysis layered on top of the most comprehensive, exclusive sets of data from the Deep and Dark Web, announces that Selene Giupponi has joined as Managing Director and will be based in Italy. A digital forensics expert, Selene adds significant value to Resecurity’s operations in Europe. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191018005415/en/ Resecurity Appoints Selene Giupponi Managing Director of Resecurity Europe (Photo: Business Wire) Selene has extensive expertise in digital forensics and is often called as an expert witness regarding digital and mobile forensics on domestic and international cases, investigations and court trials. She is a specialized IT trainer in Italy and teaches digital, mobile, cloud and mainframe forensics, cybercrime and information security at various Italian universities. “Selene brings a depth of experience to our team and we
Secure-24 Completes Acquisition of Symmetry Corporation18.10.2019 14:20:00 CEST | Press release
NTT Ltd., the newly formed, world-leading global technology services provider, and Symmetry Holding Inc. (Symmetry), a U.S.-based leading provider of SAP managed services, today announced that Secure-24 Intermediate Holdings, Inc. (Secure-24), part of the Managed Services division of NTT Ltd., has completed the acquisition of Symmetry Corporation effective October 17, 2019. “The powerful business combination of Secure-24 and Symmetry leverages the strengths of both companies around Secure-24’s foundation of delivering managed IT operations, application hosting and cloud services to enterprises worldwide,” said Mike BeDell, Chief Executive Officer, Secure-24. “As we begin to integrate Symmetry’s portfolio into Secure-24’s portfolio, through a shared vision, we look forward to providing even greater value that accelerates our clients’ business success.” Symmetry, headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, will expand the scale of SAP managed services capabilities of Secure-24 and bring new