In its fourth round of venture funding, beta radiation device maker NeoVista Inc. has raised $18 million.

NeoVista makes a device to treat the “wet” form of age-related macular degeneration. The device focuses strontium 90 beta radiation on the leaking blood vessels in the eye that damage the retina in a one-time surgical procedure.

Radiation delivery using the NeoVista device is highly focal, penetrating the target area to a depth of only 3 mm and covering an area slightly larger than 5 mm in diameter. Because beta radiation dissipates very rapidly, surrounding normal tissues are less affected than with other forms of radiation used in older treatments. Thus, application is not only more accurate but more localized. This helps to reduce the risk of radiation-induced toxicity significantly.

NeoVista’s procedure is intended as an alternative to treatment with Lucentis or Avastin.

NeoVista’s beta radiation therapy is approved for the treatment of wet AMD in the European Union. In the United States it is an investigational treatment that is being studied in several clinical trials, including CABERNET (a study comparing the results of beta radiation therapy given in combination with two doses of the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drug Lucentis to the results of treatment with multiple doses of Lucentis alone).

See ^[1] the full press release on PE Hub.