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Cirrus adds SERI, Duke-NUS collaboration and extends seed financing

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Cirrus Therapeutics, Inc., an ocular immunology biotech focused on chronic blinding diseases, has announced an expanded...

Edited by Robert McTiernan··2 min read
Cirrus adds SERI, Duke-NUS collaboration and extends seed financing

Massachusetts-based Cirrus Therapeutics has expanded its presence in Singapore through a research collaboration with the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and Duke-NUS Medical School while extending its seed financing to USD 14.7 million.

The SERI collaboration, supported by Singapore's National Medical Research Council (NMRC) and National Health Innovation Centre Singapore (NHIC), follows Cirrus's March 2026 expansion into Singapore, which included establishment of an R&D site and a strategic partnership with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). SERI, the research institute of the Singapore National Eye Centre, will work alongside Duke-NUS's Centre for Vision Research to support Cirrus's research, clinical development, and partnering activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

The expanded investment syndicate adds Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Company to existing investors ClavystBio, Polaris Partners, and SEEDS, an investment arm of SG Growth Capital. Cirrus initially closed USD 11 million in seed financing in October 2025 led by ClavystBio, with Polaris Partners and SEEDS participating. The company said proceeds will support advancement of its preclinical pipeline toward the clinic.

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Cirrus was spun out of the University of Bristol, where co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Andrew Dick leads the Academic Unit of Ophthalmology. The company's lead program is a preclinical adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy designed to restore interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase M (IRAK-M), a protein that declines with age in retinal pigment epithelium cells and whose loss is associated with the chronic inflammation driving dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and geographic atrophy (GA). The scientific basis for the program was published in Science Translational Medicine in June 2024. A second preclinical program comprises a next-generation retinal pigment epithelium cell therapy targeting center-involving GA. Both programs remain at the preclinical stage, with the company's stated near-term goal to advance the lead gene therapy toward a first clinical trial.

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